Unwinding
by JulesoftheSea
Summary: Lexi is trying to put her life back together after the love her life, Cedric Diggory, is killed and leaves her to raise a child by herself. But just when she thinks things are getting better, they spiral out of control. SEQUEL TO ARITHMICALLY INCLINED.
1. But It's My Birthday

A/N: I had no idea what to name baby Diggory, so I left it up to you guys, and I got a few responses. So thank you to everyone who messaged me their suggestions! The winning name is...

* * *

"Kateri!" Lexi shouted out the back door of the Diggory house. The house was full of guests for her daughter's third birthday. The back yard was less occupied, the chill February air kept most people inside. Lexi had been searching for the girl for almost ten minutes and there was no sign of her. She started to panic. It was unreasonable for her to worry so much, but she had been paranoid about loosing her daughter since the death of the little girl's father.

"She's over here, Lex!" Patricia Stimpson, one of Lexi's best friends, called from where she stood in the dead-looking garden, talking to a group of friends.

Lexi sighed in relief and walked out into the garden just in time to see her daughter's long curly chestnut hair disappear behind a tree.

"Kateri." Lexi called her again. The tiny girl's head popped out from behind the tree, her smile stretching from ear to ear, her gray eyes sparkling. Lexi held out her arms to her. "Where have you been, baby girl?"

Kateri ran as fast as her little legs could carry her into her mother's arms. Lexi picked her up and hugged her tightly. "I was pwaying hide and seek with Ruby." came her bubbly, soprano answer. Ruby was Lexi's six year old sister, and Kateri's aunt in a technical sense.

Ruby ran outside from the house. "Lexi! You ruined the game!"

"Mum's looking for you." Lexi informed her sister, ignoring her whining. She had very little tolerance for her family, although that was hardly Ruby's fault. Lexi tried not to think about the time after her parents found out she was pregnant at the age of seventeen, it brought out a negative side to her character. She looked down at her daughter for a distraction. "Why are you out here without a coat, Kateri? You know better than that."

"I didn' have time." she looked at her mother innocently. "Ruby counts too fast."

She was too cute. Lexi and the people around who had been listening burst out laughing.

"What does Mum want?" Ruby inquired.

"She and Dad are leaving."

Ruby groaned as they stepped into the house. Their parents were saying good bye and thank you to the Diggorys when they entered.

"Mum, I don't want to go." Ruby complained, tugging on her mother's arm, trying to get her attention.

"Too bad, It's getting late." she replied, then turned back to Mrs. Diggory. "Thanks again, Catherine. We had fun. Now, where's my big granddaughter?" she turned to Lexi and held out her arms, expecting Lexi to pass Kateri to her.

The memory was hard to suppress this time.

_Lexi woke up when the drapes on her windows were suddenly thrown open, letting the blazing sun shine into her room._

"_Get up!" her mother snapped at her._

"_No." Lexi covered her head with her pillow. Her mother yanked the pillow off her head and threw the sheets off of her. Instinctively, Lexi pulled her arms around her stomach, protecting the small bump that was forming there. _

"_Yes. We have to go school shopping today. It's the only day your father has off."_

"_What?!" Lexi stared at her mother in confusion._

"_School shopping. You're going back to school in a week."_

"_We've talked about this a million time, Mum. I'm not going back to school."_

"_Honey, you should have thought about that before you got yourself pregnant."_

"_You're not making any sense." Lexi crawled out of her bed and followed the smell of freshly made eggs to the kitchen._

"_No, you need to take some responsibility. You got yourself into this mess, now you're going to have to deal with the consequences." her mother told her pointedly. She saw her father sitting at the table, slowly eating his eggs, while trying to feed some to Ruby as well. Jake and Russell were plowing through there portions. They were anxious to get to Diagon Alley because this was going to be their first year at Hogwarts. But Lexi was in no mood to eat anymore, she felt sick at her mother's words._

"_You think I don't want to go back to school because I'm embarrassed?" _

"_It doesn't matter what your reason is, you're not throwing away your education because of your…situation."_

"_Mum, my fiancé died at that school." she choked on the last few words and felt tears coming into her eyes. "You really can't expect me to go back there." _

"_Lexi, you were with Cedric all of two months, and in that time he managed to get you pregnant and screw up your entire life. I'm not going to let that happen to you."_

"_You're mother is right, Lexi." her father piped up. _

"_I can't believe this." Lexi looked between her parent. "I told you I would get a job so I can get my own place. I'm not asking you to help me support my child. How am I not being responsible?"_

"_Because you don't understand the depth of this situation, Lexi. Raising a child is a big deal. You need your education. And Hogwarts can help with the baby after it's born. They have everything you need there. Why can't you see that this is your best option?"_

"_Why can't you see that Cedric died there?!" _

"_Lexi, if you're going to live your life to the fullest, you need to move on from Cedric Diggory."_

_Lexi stopped moving. She glared hard at her mother. _

"_I've made up my mind, Lex. You don't have to go to school, but if you don't you do not have a place to stay under this roof."_

_Lexi saw what she was doing. She was trying to force her into going back to Hogwarts using threats. Well, two could play at that game._

"_Fine." _

_Lexi didn't even bother changing out of her night clothes. She marched right out the front door and apparated to the house near Ottery St. Catchpole that belonged to the Diggorys. Nearly in tears, she knocked on the door. Mrs. Diggory answered it. _

"_Lexi?" she saw that Lexi was crying and pulled her into a hug. "Is everything okay, sweetie?"_

"_Can… can I stay with you for a little bit?" _

"_Of course, dear." Mrs. Diggory lead her into the house._

"Lexi." her mother called her attention back. Reluctantly, Lexi handed Kateri to her. She watched as the woman, who initially thought Kateri was an unfortunate event, kissed the little girl on her forehead. It made Lexi's stomach queasy. She had forgiven her parents for not being there for her in her time of need, but she couldn't forgive them for what they said in the beginning about Cedric and Kateri.

She saw Kateri squirming to get out of her grandmother's arms as she said good bye to Amos Diggory. Lexi took her back quickly; she knew Kateri didn't like to be held for long, Lexi being the only exception to that rule. Kateri loved being in Lexi's arms just as much as Lexi loved her being there.

The Beckhams took there leave, followed shortly by the rest of the guests, by which time Kateri was fast asleep on the couch. Lexi picked her up and headed to the front door.

"Here." Catherine Diggory passed her a magically wrapped plate with slices of birthday cake on it. "Amos doesn't need to be eating it."

"Thanks, Catherine."

Kateri stirred in her arms. "Momma, I wanna see Daddy." she yawned.

"Not tonight, sweetheart. Say good bye to grandma." Lexi kissed her cheek.

"But you pwomised." Kateri reminded her as she leaned over to give Catherine a hug. "Bye-bye, Granma."

"We can go tomorrow, baby girl." she waved good bye to the Diggorys and went out the door.

"Momma, are you going to appawate home?"

"Yes. Hold on tight."

Kateri's hold around her neck tightened, and Lexi spun on the spot. With a pop she was standing in front of a flat on the out skirts of London. Kateri's arms loosened.

"I don' like appawating." she told her mother.

"I know." Lexi put the cake plate on the kitchen counter and headed down the hall where both their bedrooms branched off.

"Momma, can I seep with you tonight?"

"Why don't you want to sleep in your room?"

"It's my birthday. Please?"

Lexi couldn't say no when Kateri gave her those pleading eyes. "Okay. But only tonight."

Kateri jumped out of her arms and onto the bed, no longer appearing tired at all. Lexi swept her off her feet and laid her down on the pillow. "First, no jumping on the bed. Second, just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you get to skip out on brushing your teeth. Now go get ready for bed."

Kateri jumped off the bed and ran down the hall towards the bathroom. Lexi sighed; it had been a long day. She sat on the edge of her bed and picked up the picture of Cedric she kept on her nightstand. She had vowed before Kateri was born that she would make sure her daughter knew who her father was.

She had started with his name.

_Her face was hot and sweaty, and her hair was a clumpy mess, but after eight hours of labor she now held her knew baby daughter in her arms. The baby's eyes were closed, but her tiny hand was curling around Lexi's finger. She wished she could see the color of her baby's eyes; she prayed they belonged to her father. _

"_Do you have a name picked out, Miss Beckham?" the nurse asked her._

"_Yes. Kateri Elizabeth…" Lexi hesitated on the last name, not sure which to give. Then she looked at the two people who had been in the room with her throughout the labor. Amos and Catherine Diggory were smiling down at their grandchild in complete adoration. "Does she look like him?" she asked them._

"_Very much so." Mrs. Diggory ran her finger over her granddaughter's rosy cheek._

"_Kateri Elizabeth Diggory." she told the nurse resolutely._

"_Diggory?" the nurse looked at her, confused._

"_Yes. Her father's last name is Diggory."_

"_Lexi…" both Amos and Catherine were looking at her in surprise._

"_She's a Diggory, Amos." _

_He smiled at her, the proudest smile she had seen on him since the day they met._

Kateri came back into the room, styling her favorite purple nightgown. She did look like Cedric. Her prayer had been answered, Kateri had Cedric's eyes, and his nose, and his beautiful facial structure. But she had Lexi's smile, and when she used that feature her entire face would glow and everyone in the vicinity would have no choice but to smile as well.

She was smiling now. "Mum, can you tell me a story?" she asked as Lexi picked her up onto the bed beside her. Kateri snuggled into her mother's side.

"Of course, baby. What do you want to hear?"

"Tell me about Daddy and the dragon."

"You've heard that one a thousand times." Lexi exaggerated 'thousand,' making Kateri laugh, a light bubbly sound.

"I wanna hear it again." Kateri demanded.

Lexi pulled the sheets up and settled them both in. "You're spoiled rotten. You know that, right?"

Kateri smiled and nodded.

Lexi took a deep breath before delving into the story.

* * *

A/N: just in case you were wondering how to pronounce Kateri, its like cat-ur-IE. or like Katerina (NOT Katrina) without the -na. lol


	2. Promotion

The wind in Devon was so much fiercer than the wind in London. Lexi forgot about that detail as she was getting herself dressed that morning, and Kateri too was shivering as Lexi carried her through the maze of gravestones. The Diggory family plot was at the far end of the cemetery on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, and Lexi liked to walk the whole way because it seemed to prepare her for the horrible sight of Cedric's name engraved into the marble. Kateri was bouncing up and down in her arms. Going to her father's grave was a wonderful event in her eyes; it was the only physical connection she ever had with him. She practically jumped out of Lexi's arms when they reached the white marble head stone that read:

_Cedric Diggory _

_1977 - 1995 _

_A loving son and loyal friend _

_May he be remembered_.

"Get the flowers, Momma." Kateri told Lexi, sitting next to the headstone.

Lexi waved her wand to summon a bouquet of violets, Kateri's favorite. She picked one of the blossoms out of the bouquet and stuck it behind Kateri's ear before placing the bouquet in front of the grave. Kateri smiled.

"Hi, Daddy." she talked to the stone. Lexi sat down and pulled Kateri into her lap so they could keep each other warm. She listened to her talk to her father while she ran her fingers through the little girl's long curly hair. Kateri wasn't a chatter box, but she got that way when she visited Cedric. But Lexi didn't mind, it gave her an opportunity to speak to Cedric silently, telling him things she couldn't voice aloud without breaking down into tears. Her eyes were always on either the little girl in her lap or the band of yellow fabric on her left ring finger, the engagement ring Cedric had given her the night before he died.

"Don't cry, Momma." Kateri had turned around right when a tear rolled down Lexi's face. She rubbed away the tear from her mother's cheek with one of her tiny hands. Lexi hugged her tighter against her chest.

"Are you ready to go, baby girl?"

Kateri nodded and took Lexi's hand as they walked away, back through the cemetery.

As Lexi and Kateri finished their lunch a tawny owl flew through the kitchen window, startling Lexi, making her spill her butterbeer all down her front and Kateri laugh at her. The owl came stuttering to a halt on the table next to all the food, and Lexi had shoo it off before unattaching the letter from its leg and making it leave.

Kateri was still giggling when Lexi opened the letter and read it. "What's it say, Momma?"

Lexi was speechless by the time she got to the end.

"Mum?"

She looked at Kateri and smiled. "They want to give me promotion, baby girl! Isn't that great?!" she picked Kateri out of her chair and twirled her around.

Kateri giggled. "What's a pwomotion?"

Lexi always seemed to forget just how young her daughter was. It felt like they had been together forever instead of the mere three years. Not to mention, Kateri was very intelligent for her age. She had shown magical ability when she was six months old after Lexi left the room one day and came back to see Kateri's bottle in mid air, levitating towards the little girls outstretched arms. Also she had learned to read and write already, and her vocabulary was impeccable because she was always around adults, paying way too much attention to their conversations.

"It means I'm a better job." Lexi explained.

"Oh!" she hugged her mother tighter.

--

"That's great, Lex!" Patricia squealed after she told her friends about the promotion.

Lexi, Patricia, Lee, George, and Angelina were sitting around a table at the Leaky Cauldron. Lexi had left Kateri with Amos and Catherine that night so she could uphold a tradition that had started after the latter four had graduated from Hogwarts. They felt that they had to keep their friendship alive, especially after Fred's death at the Battle of Hogwarts the previous spring. George had been a mess, but they were there for him. And they had been there for Lexi when she had been struggling with being a single mother. Bree was usually part of their get together, but she was off on her honeymoon with none other than her long time boyfriend now husband, Nick Hornsby.

"So what is it you'll be doing?" Angelina asked her.

For the last couple of years she had been working a desk job for Gringotts bank. She had always wanted to be a curse breaker, but that dream became an impossibility when she had Kateri.

"McGonagall requested that I and someone else personally take care of the money issues for Hogwarts." Lexi explained. "After what happened last May, the school has been having some problems."

Her four friends looked around the table at each other.

"What?" Lexi asked them, suspicious of their odd behavior.

Patricia sighed. "Lexi, are you sure this job is the best idea?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"You haven't been back to Hogwarts since… you know, Cedric."

Lexi looked down at her hands. "I know, but I can handle it. It's almost been four years…"

"If you say so, but just know we're here for you, and for Kat, if you need us." George patted her hand. Lexi smiled; it was rare to hear non-joke related words come out of George's mouth. She saw Angelina give is hand a squeeze on the table. After the death of his twin, George and Angelina had grown closer in their grief. Lexi and Lee had money on them getting married within the next few years.

"Thanks."

"Where is little Kitty-Kat anyway?" George asked.

"Little Kitty-Kat is with her grandparents right now."

"Bring her by the shop tomorrow. I haven't seen that rascal in ages."

"Sorry, I can't. I start this new job tomorrow." Lexi sighed. "Just so you know, if you called her Kitty-Kat to her face, she would probably scratch your eyes out."

"I'll keep that mind." he laughed. "But if you're starting tomorrow, I'm willing to babysit. If you need me."

"Really?"

"Of course. Drop her off whenever you want."

"I was going to leave her with Catherine, but I bet she would love to see you. Thanks."

"No problem."

The next morning, Lexi dropped off an excited Kateri at George's shop in Diagon Alley, Weaselys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Be good and listen to Uncle George." Lexi instructed Kateri before leaving. Kateri and George both rolled their eyes. "Hey, I saw that."

"Bye, Momma." Kateri chimed as Lexi left the store and walked down the block to Gringotts bank.

She went straight to her boss' office. Alberich Jones was sitting behind his desk, talking to a man sitting across from him with his back to Lexi. The man turned his head when Lexi entered, and Lexi was caught in her tracks, her mouth dropping open dumbly.


	3. Colored Scarves

John Praxis was the probably the second most gorgeous man Lexi had ever laid eyes on -- the first position would always belong to Cedric. When Alberich introduced her to him, she had trouble keeping her jaw from dropping again and making a complete fool of herself. He had a mop of dark, curly brown hair that shadowed the most vivid blue eyes, and when he smiled in greeting Lexi felt herself getting lightheaded. He was definitely comparable to a greek god. And he was her partner for the new assignment.

After Alberich gave them the briefing, he sent them on their way to Hogwarts to meet with Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress. They disapparated and within seconds Lexi and John were standing outside the Hogwarts gates. Lexi felt her heart rate accelerate and she willed herself not to look at the gigantic quidditch stadium, looming in the distance, because she knew she would break down. Argus Filch was coming down the path to open the gate for them. Lexi saw he was walking slower than was necessary, and she rolled her eyes. Being friends with Fred and George Weasley had earned her a bad reputation with Filch; he was probably doing it on purpose to annoy her.

"Did he break a leg or something?" John commented. So she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"He's doing it on purpose." she voiced her previous thought.

"Probably. He hated me." he grinned at her.

Her heart rate picked up, in a more pleasing way than before. "Ha. Me too."

"When did you go here?" he asked, trying to strike up conversation while waiting for Filch.

"From '89 to '95."

He was an Arithmancer, he did the math quick. "You didn't go all seven years?"

"Nope. I got pregnant at the end of my sixth year."

"Oh." he looked down at his shoes, apparently uncomfortable with the way the conversation turned.

"Don't get awkward on me." she joked, pushing his arm playfully. "She's the best part of life. I don't regret it one bit."

He smiled at her.

"When did you go?" she continued his planned conversation.

"From '85 to '92."

"No kidding. What house?"

"Gryffindor."

"Me too."

"I don't believe you." he told her, a glint in his eyes. "I would remember you for sure."

Was he flirting with her? No one had tried to flirt with her since… well, Cedric was the only person who had ever flirted with her, except for that Kenneth Towler, which was a fact she would rather forget. She decided to laugh with him, erasing any awkwardness she was feeling. "Hardly. I was a scrawny little third year when you graduated."

"You were always scrawny, Miss Beckham." Filch had finally made it down the path. He was scowling, as per usual.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Hello, Mr. Filch. How have you been?"

He opened the gate and they entered onto the school grounds. "Good until now."

"Hung anyone from their toes lately?" she asked sweetly. Beside her, John was doing all he could to keep his laughter contained; his lips were a strained, tight line.

"Unfortunately not."

"Pity."

Lexi and John kept their stride long, making up the time they lost from Filch. Much to her chagrin, Filch kept up with them. They reached the entrance hall in half time. Lexi saw Mrs. Norris, Filch's slimy cat, sitting by the door waiting for him. She hissed at John as he passed.

"Professor McGonagall is in her office waiting for you." Filch told them.

The pair headed up the marble staircase towards the second floor.

"And you wonder why he doesn't like you." John chuckled, shaking his head at her.

"Don't act so innocent. I saw Mrs. Norris' little fit at the entrance. What did you do to her?"

A grin came over his face as he reminisced. "Got her stuck in one of the trick steps and she sank right down. Took Filch forever to get her out."

"I heard about that! That was you?!"

"Yep." he looked smug.

They approached the stone gargoyle in front of the Headmistress' office. John said the password and it jumped aside, allowing them passage.

Professor McGonagall was sitting in the high backed chair behind her desk. She was chatting with the portrait of Albus Dumbledore, that was situated on the wall above her chair, when they entered.

"Ah, Miss Beckham, Mr. Praxis. Have a seat."

It was a long day filled with unending numbers and complicated calculations. It was three thirty in the afternoon when McGonagall excused them.

"Miss Beckham, where is that precious daughter of yours? I hope you aren't having to send her to a daycare." the portrait of Professor Dumbledore asked her as they were gathering and organizing their work to be ready for the next day.

"Right now she's spending the day with George Weasley," she saw McGonagall raise an eyebrow at that, "but I might have to send her to a daycare if I can't find anyone to babysit her."

"No, don't do that. You're welcome to bring her here. I can get a few of the older students to watch her on their off periods for extra credit."

"Oh, Minerva, that would be amazing. Are you sure?"

"Of course. Bring her tomorrow." McGonagall gave her a smile. Lexi was stunned. There had only been two other times in which McGonagall graced her with a smile: when she got an 'Outstanding' on her Transfigurations O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams.

"Thank you."

She and John left not long after. As they walked back down through the entrance hall, Lexi took in the presence of a door that lead to a room she knew all too well. The memories struck at her like lightening.

"_Wanna know something?" Cedric was laying on his back, sprawled across his bed. Lexi was curled up next him, her head resting on his chest. _

"_What?" she was nearly asleep, even though it was early in the evening. _

"_I remember the first time I saw you."_

"_Tell me about it."_

"_It was our first night here at Hogwarts. Remember McGonagall made us stay in that room off the entrance hall before we were sorted?"_

_She nodded._

"_I remember seeing you," he paused to kiss the top of her head, "and I thought you were the most beautiful person in the room. And I remember hoping we would be sorted into the same house." _

"_I remember you too." Lexi yawned. "You were the tallest eleven year old I had ever seen, so gangly."_

"_Thanks, Lex. I love you too."_

_She giggled. "It's okay. You're not too bad looking now."_

_She could almost feel his eyes roll._

_--_

_Her body was still numb with shock. She could barely hear the raised voices of her mother and Catherine Diggory. They had been arguing for the past thirty minutes over the idea of her being pregnant; they had just found out. Her mother was not happy about it at all, but Mrs. Diggory was calling it a blessing. Lexi would have to remember to give Catherine a hug later. _

_Lexi looked around the small room. It was probably the most unadorned room in the whole of Hogwarts. No artwork hung, it was just stone surrounding them. It was so cold. Lexi tried to bundle herself deeper into her blankets, but the coldness didn't leave. _

She shivered as they passed.

"Lexi? Did you hear me?" John's voice echoed in her ears.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay. I was just wondering if you want to go to the Three Broomsticks."

She did need a distraction. This place was bringing back memories, and she had never been to the Three Broomsticks with Cedric. "Sure. Sounds great."

John came back to their table with two firewhiskeys. "Tell me about yourself, partner."

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. All I've heard is that you have a really cute daughter, and you're married, and -"

"Oh. I'm not married." Lexi shook her head, interrupting.

"I just assumed because you have a ring." he nodded his head toward the band of yellow fabric around her finger.

"Right." she twisted it around her finger. "This was my umm… engagement ring… actually."

"Was?"

She looked at him pleadingly. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Sorry."

"It's okay." she searched her head for a new topic, but the effort was not needed because just then the door to the pub creaked open and a couple came in. They were obviously disobedient Hogwarts students because it was definitely a Monday, which meant no Hogsmeade visits, and they were definitely wearing Hogwarts robes, complete with house scarves. It wasn't the disobedience that Lexi cared about though, frankly she couldn't have cared less. It was the scarves. The male was wearing a yellow and black scarf, while the female was wearing a scarlet and gold scarf.

John gently touched her hand laying on the table. "Lexi?"

Abruptly, she pulled her hand away. She didn't know what she was doing, but she felt herself get up and mutter, "I'm sorry. I have to go."

She left the pub, accidentally knocking into the Hufflepuff boy as he made his way to the counter, and the blistering wind outside knocked her around until she disapparated back to her flat in London, where she realized she was late in picking up Kateri. She knew she was about to loose it. In less than a minute she was carrying Kateri back inside their flat.

"Momma? What's wrong?" Kateri looked so worried, on the verge of tears as well.

Lexi brought Kateri to her room and started off towards her own. She did not want her daughter witnessing her break down. "Baby, stay in your room, please." she ordered, shutting the door.

"Momma!" she heard Kateri's cry behind the door before she slammed her own door shut.

Lexi wanted to scream, but was forced to keep it in. So she slid down the door and brought her knees up to her chest, constricting herself together to hold that cry of pain in. But she didn't bother holding the tears, she wanted those to flow, and flow, and flow, and cry themselves out.

She sat there, crying, rocking back and forth against the door, until a meager knock vibrated softly through the wood on her door. Lexi tried to wipe her tears away as fast and as thoroughly as she could, and then opened the door to face her daughter. Kateri threw her thin arms around her mother in an instant, not bothering to take in Lexi's appearance. Lexi kneeled down and hugged her tightly.

"I thought I told you to stay in your room." Lexi whispered. She couldn't get her voice any louder without breaking down again.

"I didn' wanna listen." Kateri replied.

Lexi kissed her cheek. "Have I ever told you that you are the best daughter in the world?"

She felt Kateri nod into her shoulder.

"I love you, baby girl."

"I love you too, Momma."


	4. It's Way Past Curfew

It was easier to return to Hogwarts with Kateri bouncing on her hip, it made her focus on the present rather than the past. John was waiting for her in the office McGonagall set up for them, and Kateri was quite taken with him from the start.

"She likes you, John." Lexi teased him while Kateri played around with his hair. He was having trouble juggling her little body while she squirmed. Lexi took her off his hands and gave her to the seventh year Ravenclaw girl that came to get Kateri.

When Kateri realized she was leaving the room, she started crying. Lexi was so surprised she panicked and grabbed Kateri back. It was odd. Kateri never cried, she was always a quiet baby and never complained. To see her crying so suddenly was disconcerting.

"Kateri, baby, what is it?"

"I don' wanna leave you." so she was still upset about the previous night. Lexi lamented doing that to her baby, it wasn't fair to her.

"Don't worry about me, baby girl." she thought around for something to say. Her eyes landed on John, who looked awkward and concerned, standing by his desk. "Look, I've got John to protect me."

Kateri looked at John too. There was no denying her words, he had such a gentle and warm face. Kateri nodded and wiped the tears away from her eyes. Lexi kissed Kateri's cheek before she took the Ravenclaw girl's hand and left.

"Sorry about that." Lexi told him as they settled themselves into their desk chairs. "She's a worrier."

"But people were not lying. She's adorable, Lexi." John commented.

Lexi laughed. "She doesn't get that from me."

"That smile of hers belongs to you." he countered. That glint in his eyes was back. She couldn't describe it, but it made her feel comfortable, like she could trust him with anything.

They started working, but Lexi couldn't concentrate. "John?"

"Yep?" he looked at her, and that glint flashed again.

"I just wanted to apologize for running out on you yesterday."

"It's okay, Lexi. I could tell something was bothering you." his voice matched his eyes. It was warm and full of compassion.

"It's just…" she hesitated, and in that second she found that she didn't mind sharing with him. "It's been hard coming back here, to Hogwarts. I haven't been back since I found out I was pregnant."

"I'm sorry." he sounded sincere. "That must be tough."

"It wasn't because of Kateri that I never came back, John. I have never been embarrassed or ashamed that I became a mother so young. It's…" she exhaled loudly, "I've never talked about this to anyone except my parents." she was including the Diggorys; they had been more like parents than her actual parents had been in the last few years.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." his eyes were too warm for her to change her mind.

"I was engaged. My boyfriend had asked me to marry him after I got pregnant, and…" her voice was choked, she hadn't felt the tears start. "and the day after he asked he… he died… right here on these grounds. Just like that, he was gone." She didn't know what else to say; she wanted to say more. It seemed trite to say minimal things like that about Cedric without giving him more of a eulogy.

Lexi crumpled onto her desk. In less than a second she felt arms pulling her away and her head rested against his chest. He was stronger than he looked. She didn't expect him to have such a muscular chest, John seemed more like the bookish type. She wasn't going to say anything though, she was in no position and he was letting her soak his robes. They had only known each other for two days, and already she was making herself dependent on his shoulder. But she hadn't been held like this since that last day. A part of her was screaming at her to pull away, but then another part was desperately seeking more. And for some inexplicable reason, she found herself moving closer to him. He didn't pull away, he came closer too. There was no awkwardness; it was surprisingly comfortable.

It was when her tears dried that Lexi finally pulled away, and it was then that she started to feel awkward.

"I'm sorry." she murmured.

He gave her another one of his warm smiles. "Don't be."

Quietly, they set back to work. Lexi could concentrate just about as much as she could before, but now she was thinking about John as well. She hadn't felt this aware of someone since Cedric, and she hadn't thought she could before today. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't deny that she felt drawn to him, some sort of connection was there.

"Excuse me." she told John before getting up to leave the room. She couldn't get her head on straight with him being so close. He looked at her in concern, and she gave him a small smile to mollify his worries.

Lexi walked down the corridors aimlessly. She had no specific destination in mind, but somehow her feet lead her to a third floor classroom that was all too familiar. She stared at the door, not believing where she was standing, and felt like her body had betrayed her; it knew she couldn't take this, especially after two breakdowns in the past twenty four hours. But something was different, and it made Lexi's heart calm down. The classroom, once never used except at night for a particular study group and later on for questionably unacceptable behaviors which she took part in, was now host to a third year Charms class. It actually made her laugh. _If only they knew_…

_They didn't normally get this wild. Cedric had been stressed out for the last couple of weeks because he still had no idea what the third task was going to be and his nerves were frayed. Lexi had understood what was going on in his head when he entered the classroom without a word and immediately grabbed her to him to kiss her fiercely. Quite a few desks and chairs had been knocked over in the process and now formed a semi-circle around them. Articles of clothing were randomly draped over several surfaces, but all of this was hardly visible because neither of them had bothered to turn on any lights._

_Very little speech was comprehensible while they made love. For the most part, neither of them made a sound except for the natural animalistic noises that couldn't be helped. It was after, when they were relaxing into each others arms and trying to catch their breath that speech was considered allowable. _

_Lexi stretched her fingers through his hair. "Cedric?"_

"_Hmm?" he nuzzled her neck. _

"_Can you -" but she stopped short. There was a noise right outside the door, a shuffling of feet and then a bump against the door. She felt Cedric stiffen beside her. _

"_Did you happen to cast the silencing charm?" she whispered._

"_No. I thought you did. You were here first."_

"_Huh. I had no idea you were going to come in and start so abruptly." she snapped, which sounded odd as a whisper. "I was going more along the lines of the usual 'hi, how are you, lets cast a silencing charm and _then_ have sex!'"_

"_Hey, I didn't see you complaining when we started. Don't blame this on me!"_

_Lexi was going to reply with another sarcastic comment, but another bump on the door beat her to it and she felt Cedric squeeze her tighter against him._

"_I know someone's in there." Filch's drawl came from the other side of the door. "Don't think I won't catch you."_

_Cedric and Lexi both gave a sigh of relief. He kissed the side of her head. "He won't be able to get in." she looked at his face and saw a mischievous smile there. "I have the key."_

_Indeed, the key Professor Sprout had given him for use of the room as a study group meeting area had come from Filch's office and now resided in a pocket in Cedric's robe, which was sprawled over a chair somewhere in the very room. It was a definite perk that Filch was a squib and couldn't cast the complex charm to unlock the door on his own. _

"_Should we just wait for him to leave?" Lexi asked him._

"_There's nothing else we can do. It's way past curfew."_

_Filch continued to throw out empty threats from behind the door, but they knew he couldn't stay up all night. Cedric and Lexi didn't move, they laid where they were and didn't make a noise in an attempt to make him fall asleep sooner. They knew he would be out there all night. _

_Lexi found the entire situation rather funny and couldn't help letting out a hushed giggle now and then. _

_Cedric didn't seem to find the same humor in it. "It's not that funny, Lex. Now I'm going to have to stay up all night to hear when he goes to sleep."_

"_I'm sorry." she giggled again. "I'll stay up. You sleep."_

"_No. Go to sleep." he wasn't demanding, his voice was soft. "Hold on."_

_She felt him pick her up. "Cedric."_

"_Shh." In a few strides he laid her back down and sat next to her. She could see the dim outline of the door beside him as he lifted her head so it was in his lap. "Go to sleep."_

_It was hard not to obey him while he ran his fingers gently through her hair. She fell asleep to the sound of Mrs. Norris' hisses. _

_A few hours later, Cedric shook her awake. "Hmm?" she looked at him groggily. _

_Now he laughed, still silently. "He's asleep. And the cat left." he informed her. She noticed that the silhouettes of the desks and chairs were back to normal. _

_They quickly got dressed and opened the door quietly. Filch was sleeping against the wall by the door with his mouth hanging open and drool seeping down his chin. They both muffled their laughter and went back to their respective dormitories. Lexi couldn't stop laughing when she got in bed and accidentally woke up the other girls._

She could feel the bubbles of laughter coming up through her throat now.

"I told you that you had a beautiful smile." John's voice said from nearby. Lexi's eyes snapped open and saw him smiling down at her from where he was a few meters down the hall. "And to think I was worried about you."

She took his extended hand and he helped her to her feet. "How long was I gone?"

"Almost half an hour. I came to look for you. Thought you might need a hug or something."

"I'm fine." another laugh escaped. "But I'll take the hug anyway."

She hugged him from the side as they walked and he hugged her back. They were definitely friends.


	5. You Never Know What Could Happen

There were times while sitting across from John in their office that Lexi noticed him looking at her, almost staring. A part of her felt giddy whenever these moments occurred, but another part of her was telling the other part to shut up and kept shoving pictures of Cedric into her memory. It was all very confusing and made her had spin. She had never once considered dating after Cedric, somehow it felt like she would be betraying her vow to him. But John seemed to be genuinely interested in her, and it was nice to have someone feel that way about her.

To top it off, Kateri simply adored him. Lexi had never seen Kateri get so attached to any other person. She was always on about John. John this, John that, can John come over to play with me.

At night, when she was at home with Kateri, Lexi theorized that John would be a great man to be with, and she was pretty sure if he did have some sort of feelings for her that she would be able to reciprocate them easily.

But that was just a theory.

Her theory was put to the test two weeks after the two of them started working at Hogwarts. She and John, who was holding Kateri's napping form, were walking down the lane out of Hogwarts on their way home for the weekend.

"Lexi?"

"Hm?" she turned her head to look at him.

"You know, we've become pretty good friends." he started off. Lexi looked back in front of her, guessing the direction this conversation was going. "Do you think, maybe we could… you know, maybe see more of each other outside of work? Maybe over dinner tonight? Or tomorrow night if you need to find a babysitter for Kateri?"

He let out a breath after he finished, like a great weight had been taken off of him. Lexi, on the other hand, felt like a great weight had just plummeted into her stomach.

"Like a date?"

"Yeah. Like a date."

Bam, bam, bam. Cedric, Cedric, Cedric. It was like memories of him were being shot at her. She tightly closed her eyes to block them out, she couldn't think.

She felt John put his hand on her shoulder. "Lexi? You okay?"

"I don't know, John."

"Oh." he sounded let down, disappointed, hurt. "I understand."

"No. That's not a no." she quickly amended, trying to ease his pain and humiliation. "It's a let me think about it. I'm in a tricky situation." she looked at Kateri.

He nodded, seeming to understand, and handed Kateri back to her. They were at the gates.

"I guess I'll see you on Monday, Lexi."

"Yeah. See you."

He gave her a quick smile and disapparated. Lexi felt horrible. She held Kateri tighter against her to help keep her composure. She knew she had really hurt him, and she hated the thought of things being awkward between them when they saw each other again. But her dedication to Cedric was way to strong for her to control. She had to talk to him.

Catherine and Amos Diggory were waiting anxiously for Lexi and Kateri to arrive the next morning. Lexi hadn't brought Kateri to visit them since she started her new job, and the two grandparents were more than willing to take their granddaughter for the day.

"So you need to visit him?" Catherine asked her, pouring juice into Kateri's sippy cup. She was playing with an old set of Wizard Chess pieces that Amos didn't use anymore.

"Momma, why can't I come too?" Kateri whined. She hated not being included on a visit to her father.

"Not today, baby. Why don't you go play with daddy's old broom." Lexi suggested, trying to distract her from the situation at hand. It worked; Kateri was a sucker for flying -- she was too much like Cedric. She leaped up and jumped up and down until Catherine caught her and carried her outside. Amos, in his obsession with his son's quidditch career, had kept all of Cedric's old brooms, including his kiddy broom that merely flew a few feet above the ground.

"What's going on, Lexi?" Amos asked sincerely.

"I met someone, Amos, and he's… he's really good to me, and to Kateri." she explained. Amos didn't say anything, so she continued. "The thing is, when he asked me out, the only thing I could think of was Cedric. I don't know, I feel like I'm betraying him."

Amos nodded in sympathy. "I can't imagine how difficult this must be for you, but I know my son. He was not a selfish person, Lexi. He would want you to move on and be happy. You deserve happiness more than most. He knows that."

"That's what I keep telling myself, but something inside is telling me not to get involved with him. Not because John's a bad guy, just because it's not right."

Amos looked slightly confused. "Amos, I know I can't love anyone as much as I love Cedric. Do you think that's fair to John?"

"Lexi, you and Cedric were so young, and you're still young. Don't close off all your options so soon. You never know what could happen."

Lexi sighed. That wasn't the answer she wanted. "I guess I'll get going."

"Good luck, Lexi. I know you'll make the right choice."

Could she make the right choice? She was incredibly biased, and this decision would affect more than just her. She had Kateri to consider. What if Kateri got too attached to John, and then they broke up? She couldn't be held responsible with making objective decisions when it came to Cedric. She never had; when they were together, every decision they made was based on passion, not reason.

Lexi pondered all this as she walked through the cemetery towards Cedric's grave. It stood, cold as ever, a few feet away.

"Hey, Cedric." Lexi sighed and kneeled down beside it, tracing the letters of his name with her finger. "I need your help."

This time it wasn't like being shot, it was soothing.

_Amos Diggory was standing half a hall away, talking to one of his favorite portraits in Hogwarts. Cedric held Lexi close to his side as they waited for his mother to get out of the bathroom. It was nearing nightfall, meaning the feast would start soon and right after that the third and final task in the Triwizard Tournament. Lexi was scared senseless; she couldn't stop thinking something bad was going to happen to Cedric while he was in the maze. _

_She heard Cedric sigh and then felt his body move to stand directly in front of her. Their faces were mere inches apart. She could feel his breath upon her cheek. His hands came up to hold her face between them. His eyes were a cloudy gray, misted with worry. _

"_I love you, Lexi."_

_Lexi couldn't say anything. He had been acting so carefree all day, and this sudden change in tone caught her off guard._

"_Nothing will happen to me tonight. Understand?"_

_She didn't give any indication that she did, but kept his steady gaze. _

"_But," he hesitated, choking on the words he was trying to say. "but its making me think if anything were to happen to me… in the future… I don't want you -"_

"_Stop it." she interjected. "Damnit, Cedric, I don't want to hear it."_

"_Listen to me." he ordered, kissing her softly to keep her mouth from interrupting him again. "I don't want you wasting your life on me. Promise me you'll move on, find someone else, live."_

"_No."_

"_Lexi -"_

"_No, Cedric. Don't take yourself away from me."_

"_I don't want to."_

"_Then this conversation is pointless."_

"_Lex, -"_

_Lexi hugged him tightly and pressed her face into his chest. "I don't want to argue. Just hold me."_

_He sighed and hugged her, kissing the top of her head. _

_Catherine Diggory stepped out of the bathroom and Amos came back to continue their tour._

Lexi had forgotten this conversation. She had willed herself to forget it right after it had taken place. Was Cedric forcing her to remember? To give her his sign? Because he knew she would do anything for him, anything he told her to do.

"Thanks, Cedric." she whispered.

She heard a popping noise and then the crunching of leaves behind her. The sound was getting closer, and closer. Lexi turned around and saw the last person she would ever expect to be walking this way.


	6. I Don't Owe You An Answer

A pretty woman with long, raven-black hair, stood in front of her, a similar stunned look on her face. It was only similar to Lexi's because Lexi's surprise was mixed with anger. She could not believe Cho Chang had the nerve to show up at Cedric's grave.

"_I have no idea, Lex." Cedric told her. They were laying in his bed, resting before they had to stop their homework procrastination. Lexi had been curious about Cho. It was not a topic Cedric particularly like to talk about. "Why I stayed with her as long as I did is a question that eludes me. And, just so you know, it is something that I deeply regret."_

_It was insanely selfish of her, but she was thrilled that he felt that way about that part of his life. In response, Lexi nuzzled herself closer into his neck. _

"_You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." he didn't miss the longing in her voice._

_Cedric kissed the top of her head. "Liar. I know you want to talk about it." he sighed. "And I suppose we should. I don't want to keep any part of myself away from you."_

_They didn't say anything for a long time. Lexi assumed he was thinking about the answer to her last question: What had attracted him to her in the first place?_

"_I guess…" he started. "I thought there was something more to her. Like maybe there was something behind her superficial popular exterior. And she is the only female seeker in quidditch right now, and I thought that made her different from the other girls in the school._

"_It started out as a silly crush. So, when the Yule Ball was announced, I wanted to make sure I got a chance to ask her before someone else did, to get my chance. That was before we got close." he reassured her, although Lexi did not need reassurance; he was doing it more for himself. "And at first, she seemed to fit all my expectations. She wasn't like the other girls in the school. She seemed to appreciate who I was not for my looks." _

_He paused. "Wow. That sounded conceited."_

"_It's okay. You would sound insane if you were oblivious to how gorgeous you are." she teased him. She felt his smile against her skin. "Continue."_

"_Anyway, she was fun. Not to mention a really good kisser."_

_Lexi felt her eyebrows pull together and her hand slap him. The memory of him kissing Cho that time before she left for the holidays still struck at her._

"_Calm down." he took her hand in his. "You're a billion times better." _

_His hand holding hers and his breath wafting across her cheek was enough to make the strikes dissipate. _

"_Can I continue?"_

_She nodded. Her jealousy towards Cho was easily assuaged. She could take it now._

"_I thought maybe Cho and I could make a pretty good couple, and about five minutes after I told her that, the rest of the school knew too. That was annoying. But it wasn't until after break that things started going downhill. She seemed to sense that I was always worrying about the drama between you and me, and I have to kick myself now because maybe that wasn't fair to her."_

_Lexi tried to put herself in Cho's shoes, and she guessed why Cho acted the way she had. It hadn't been fair to her, but she had also been very persistent and didn't have a problem with using Cedric's good nature against him. _

"_She started becoming real clingy and over-bearing. I told her to stop, and she accused me of cheating on her with you, and that really struck. I wanted to prove her wrong. And then I really did cheat. I felt awful, but I couldn't deny that I loved you after that, Lex."_

"_I loved you too. That whole time, I loved you." _

"_I know. I was just an idiot."_

"Lexi?!" Cho's voice seemed to echo in her ears. Lexi was still in shock, and even more so because there was more than one person facing her; Cho was flanked with three other girls, whose names Lexi didn't know. Could she really not go anywhere alone?

Lexi felt her nostrils flare and her mouth become a tight line. "What are you doing here?"

"Is it suddenly against the law for me to visit my ex-boyfriend's grave?" Cho pushed past her and put a bouquet of flowers next to the stone. She turned her head sharply towards Lexi. "Do you mind?"

Lexi raised an eyebrow and did not move an inch. "Excuse me?"

"I would like a minute without you glaring at me." Cho snapped back.

She had absolutely no idea what to do. She had to reasons to stay, and one reason to go. Her curiosity and protective nature made her want to stay and curse Cho out of the way, while her humility was begging her to leave. In the end, her curiosity won out. "Just tell me why you're here, Cho, and I'll leave."

"I don't owe you an answer to that. If it wasn't for _you_, I would still be with him." her voice was so acidic when she said 'you' that Lexi cringed.

"If that's what you think." without another word, Lexi turned on her heal and walked away, feeling tears encroaching. She had wanted to say so much more to Cedric.

The rest of the weekend dragged on, while Lexi thought about Cho, and inevitably Cedric. She knew Cedric would not have stayed with Cho much longer than he did; he was much too independent to deal with her clinginess for long. But it still bothered her.

That issue, however, was pushed from her mind Monday morning when she was getting herself and Kateri ready to go to Hogwarts. She would see John, and he would probably be expecting an answer to his question. Lexi had already made up her mind, but that didn't make it any less frightening.

He was sitting quietly at his desk, already working, when she entered their office. He looked up at her, his warm smile appearing.

"Hello, Lexi."

"Hey." she replied nervously. Not wanting to rush, she settled herself into her desk before looking at him.

"John," she got his attention back. He looked at her, anxiety hiding in his eyes while she continued, "I've been giving a lot of thought to our last conversation."

"Yes?" he prompted her to continue to her answer.

"Well…" she swallowed nervously. She had never been good at this sort of thing. "Umm…Kateri. She's crazy about you, John. And I guess there is no reason I can't be that way too." she gave him a shy smile.

He beamed and gave a shy chuckle. "Is tonight too early?"

"Kateri will be with Amos and Catherine tonight, so tonight will be perfect."

"Are Amos and Catherine your parents? Should I meet them?" he sounded nervous.

She realized her slip a bit too late. Lexi had never meant to reveal the identity of Kateri's father, somehow it made Cedric seem even more distant by admitting he was part of her past. But it was too late to take back. He was extremely curious and anxious now, and she couldn't relieve one without giving up the other. She might as well get this over quickly. He would figure it out eventually anyway.

"In a sense, yes. But they aren't really. Amos and Catherine Diggory are Kateri's paternal grandparents."

Just because John wasn't into sports as much as other men, that didn't mean he wasn't aware of one of the biggest events of this generation. Everyone in the wizarding community had been in tune with the happenings of the Triwizard Tournament, especially when a boy was killed during the last task by the darkest wizard in all of history.

John did the math with the dates Lexi had given him during their first conversation. He calculated within about a second that the general date of Kateri's conception coincided with that of the third task, and that Lexi had told him that her fiancé died at that time as well. The mention of 'Diggory' was the last puzzle piece needed to figure out Cedric was the father.

"Diggory. As in Cedric Diggory." it wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"Wow." John looked stunned. "I am so sorry, Lexi."

"Don't worry about it, John. Please."

He heard in her voice that she didn't want to talk about it. She could see that his curiosity was only intensified by this new information, but he was good enough to drop it.


	7. Crappy Night

Lexi quickly found out that John was a damn good kisser. Their relationship was very easy, they got along fabulously. They were interested in the same things, which made them great companions who didn't argue over stupid stuff.

Despite how happy she was with John, Lexi still found herself wishing sometimes when he kissed her or held her that it was Cedric instead. She knew it wasn't fair to John, and she chastised herself for thinking those thoughts.

"I just don't know, Tricia." Lexi admitted to her friend a few weeks after she and John got together. "I'm trying to push all these Cedric related thoughts out of my head, but I can't." she sighed. "Probably because I don't want to."

Normally, Lexi would go to Bree for this kind of discussion; she was always more supportive when it came to Cedric because she had known their relationship best. But Bree was still on her honeymoon. God only knew when she would be back. Patricia was the next best person to go to.

"The last thing I want is to hurt John." Lexi added.

"You knew this was not going to be easy from the beginning, Lex." Patricia reminded her. "Give it some time. You are still used to Cedric. Let yourself get used to John. It's not like you're forgetting Cedric in the process."

"I guess." Lexi sighed morosely.

"Just be lucky you even have someone who adores you as much as John does."

Lexi noted the hint of envy in Patricia's voice, and felt extremely selfish. "Oh, Tricia. I'm sorry. I completely forgot about Rich."

"He was an ass anyway." she sighed. "That seems to be the kind of guy I attract, and somehow I fall for their supposed charm every time."

"Don't worry, Tricia. I know you'll find someone." Lexi patted her friend's hand.

--

John waited at the bar in the Leaky Cauldron. He had a date with Lexi, but she was running late, as usual. He didn't mind, he knew she had more important responsibilities that she had to tend to. But he had been sitting at the bar for near twenty minutes and his patience wasn't saintly.

He had a seat saved next to him for Lexi when she arrived, but was looking at the door when another woman sat down in the saved chair.

John didn't have the heart to tell her to leave. The woman next to him looked terrible. Her eyes were bright red from crying, and her curly blonde hair looked misshapen.

"Give me the strongest thing you have, Tom." she told the bartender.

"Are you okay, Miss?" John asked.

The woman stared at him for a minute, looking surprised. "I'm fine."

Tom came back with a pint of something. John couldn't tell. The woman drank greedily. "Doesn't look like it."

"If you must know, I had a run in with my ex."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks."

"He must be a real prat." John guessed.

"Yes. He is."

They sat in silence as the woman drank more from her mug. She looked at him when she put it down, like she was evaluating him. "I'm Patricia, by the way."

"John." he held out his hand and she shook it.

She smiled. "Nice to meet you."

Patricia was very talkative after that, even happy. John noted that she was very pretty, especially after she tamed her hair, and very friendly. If he had not been dating Lexi, he would have taken more of an interest. They talked for awhile, and John lost track of the time.

"Nerd." Patricia teased him. She had asked him what was the one thing he would save if his house caught on fire and he told her that he would save his books.

"Am not. I just really like books." John thought through his words, and chuckled. "Okay, maybe you're right."

"Don't worry, I would probably save my books too." Patricia giggled.

"You know that makes you a nerd too."

She shrugged. "Oh well. Being a nerd can't be too bad if you're one."

John felt a shiver up his spine; it was both comfortable and uncomfortable. Uncomfortable only because he had a girlfriend.

"You haven't told me what you do, John. Surely something with books." she wore a sly smile.

"Nope. Numbers actually. I work for Gringotts."

"Really? You might know my friend. What do you do exactly?"

"Well, I recently was assigned a position working for Hogwarts."

He was surprised at her reaction. Patricia's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open.

"Patricia?"

"Holy shit." Patricia took a long swig from the mug in front of her.

"What is it?"

"Oh my God. I have been flirting with my best friends _boyfriend_!" she looked at him. "And you were flirting back!"

"Oh shit! You're Tricia." John realized. Lexi had told him about her friends, but she had called Patricia 'Tricia.' How was he supposed to know?

"Yes." Patricia put her head in her hands. "How could I do this to her?"

"Neither of us knew."

"That doesn't matter! She's been through enough shit as it is. Hell, only today I was telling her that she should not break up with you, and here I am flirting with you."

John felt like a brick dropped into his stomach. "She wanted to break up with me?"

Patricia realized what she let slip and a look of horror came over her face. "That's not what I meant." she quickly amended.

"Really?" his anger was hard to hold back.

"Look, John. All of this is really difficult for her. She's trying. She wants to try."

Before he could reply, he heard Lexi's voice behind him.

"Patricia? What are you doing here?" Lexi asked as she gave John a peck on the cheek and sat on his other side.

"Crappy night." Patricia told her, getting up from the bar. "I'll talk to you later. It was nice meeting you, John."

John didn't look up from his goblet of firewhiskey in front of him.

"I'm sorry I'm so late. Kateri got sick, but she's fine now. Catherine used to be a Healer."

John didn't reply. He didn't want to listen to any of her excuses. He was too angry to even care about the little girl he had grown to love.

"John? Are you alright." her hand was in his hair, brushing through it gently.

"No."

"What's wrong? Did Tricia -"

"It's not Patricia. It's you." he tried to keep the hurt out of his voice.

Lexi hesitated. "I don't understand." her voice didn't try to hide the hurt.

"She told me that you wanted to break up with me." he heard her surprised intake of breath.

"Let me explain, John."

"If you don't want to be with me, just tell me, Lexi. I'm not forcing you to stay."

"No, John. Please let me explain."

He didn't say anything, waiting for the next excuse.

"I really like you, John. I really do. And that's why I don't want to hurt you." she started. "It's just sometimes I find myself thinking about Cedric, and… that's not fair to you. I'm trying, John. I don't want to break up with you."

He wasn't looking at her, but he could tell by the roughness in her voice that she was trying to hold back tears. He wanted to make those tears go away, not caring if those tears were caused by him or Cedric. His arms reached up and pulled her into him. She let out a dry sob and hugged him back.

"How's Kateri? What was wrong with her?" he changed the subject to let her know she was forgiven.

"She's fine now. It was just a fever. Catherine and Amos are taking care of her."

"That's good." he kissed the top of her head. "I haven't seen that girl in ages. Let's go get her and go back to your place."

Lexi giggled. "You saw her yesterday."

The two of them left the bar and apparated to Ottery St. Catchpole. John was nervous, he had yet to meet the Diggorys.

Meanwhile, Patricia stumbled down the cobbled stones of Diagon Alley. She felt terrible and knew she probably looked it too. First her ex, then John. This day really couldn't get any worse.

It was dark, and the streets were nearly empty, so it was a shock when she ran into something tall and fell back onto the street.

"So sorry." a deep voice with a French accent said. He held out a hand to help her up.

Maybe the day wasn't completely awful.


	8. No, Not You

With two loud pops, Lexi and John arrived in front of a tall, two story house. One could tell that the house had once had a homily feel, but lately the house had fallen into slight disrepair. The plant life was hanging limp, as was one of the shutters on the second floor. The paint on the door was chipped, and the windows needed a good cleaning. The Diggory house was not a happy sight.

The couple walked up the pathway to the door and knocked. Amos opened it quietly.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon." he told Lexi, and then looked at the man next to her. "You must be John."

"Yes. It's nice to meet you Mr. Diggory."

"Amos."

"We came to pick up Kateri." Lexi informed him as he ushered them into the living room.

"She's with Catherine up in Cedric's room."

Lexi left the two men and went up the stairs. She opened the door into Cedric's room, a room she knew all to well.

"_I'm so sorry, Lexi, but the only room we have available for you to sleep in is Cedric's." Catherine told her. _

_Lexi had just collected all her important belongings from her parents house and moved them into the Diggory house. _

_There was a twist in her stomach. "That'll be fine. Thank you."_

_She had never been inside Cedric's room, for obvious reasons. But it looked like she expected it to look. The walls were painted in a dark reddish orange with posters circling all sides. She recognized the poster of his favorite quidditch team, Puddlemere United, that usually hung by his bed at Hogwarts. Amos must have hung it back up after he and Catherine had collected all of Cedric's belongings. His bed spread and window hangings were black, which, in conjunction with the dark walls and poor lighting, gave the room a gloomy appearance. _

_Lexi found a stack of old photos that Cedric had taken that past year. She flipped through them and found that they were mostly of either her, or him and her together. There was one with him and Cho at the Yule Ball, and a few of him and fellow Hufflepuffs. There was even a couple of their old study group. They all brought tears to her eyes. _

_Cedric's school trunk sat against the opposite wall from the bed. Out of curiosity, Lexi opened it and quickly felt very awkward. Lying on top of a pile of Cedric's clothes was a bright red, lacey pair of boyshort underwear. She didn't know why she was embarrassed. It wasn't like the Diggorys didn't know she and Cedric had been sexually active -- she had the almost four months bump to prove it. _

_The embarrassment quickly faded as a series of memories of previous nights slashed at her heart. She smacked down the trunk lid and retreated to the bed, hiding herself beneath the covers that held no memories of her Cedric. _

Now Kateri was snuggled up under the black sheets in the dimly lit room. Catherine was sitting beside her, reading her a story.

When Lexi entered, Kateri gave her an odd look.

"Hey, baby girl. How're you feeling?" Lexi smoothed the loose hair out of Kateri's face. She didn't feel hot at all.

"I'm fine." Kateri smiled up at her.

"I thought -" Catherine started.

"John's downstairs."

Catherine nodded in understanding, not that an explanation was necessary because at that moment John knocked lightly on the door.

Kateri brightened up in an instant. "John!"

"What is this? I didn't get that kind of welcome." she tickled Kateri, and the little girl tossed around, laughing hysterically, trying to get away from her mothers hands.

But Lexi noticed John was looking around the room uncomfortably. She knew why. Cedric's room had not changed much from the day she moved in, except now Cedric's pictures hung on the wall and his trunk no longer occupied any floor space.

"Are you two ready to go?" he asked.

She nodded and quickly picked up Kateri.

"So, what did you and Amos talk about while I was upstairs?" Lexi asked him after they arrived at her small London flat.

John frowned to himself. "He threatened me, actually."

"Threatened? How so?"

She tucked Kateri's sleeping form into her crib and led John into her own room.

"He told me that if I ever hurt you that he would personally dismember me." John's eyes had fallen onto the picture of Cedric on Lexi's nightstand. He looked uncomfortable again. Lexi saw where his gaze was, so she pulled him onto the bed next her, stealing his attention back on her.

"Then I suggest that you don't hurt me." she snuggled closer to him.

"I wouldn't be worried of me hurting you."

She heard the double meaning in his words. To reassure him that she never wanted to hurt him, Lexi kissed him. It wasn't like one of their normal kisses, this one had a little something more. It was a mix of passion and, on John's part, frustration, but he didn't seem inclined to stop.

_He was on top of her, crushing her into the mattress of his four poster bed. His chest was bare and her hands were running up and down his skin, while he was reaching to pull her blouse off. Their lips were locked, and they were running completely on animal instinct, so they didn't hear when the door creaked._

"_Oh, for the love of God." Nick Hornsby covered his eyes and shut the door quickly._

_Cedric and Lexi looked up just in time to see the end of his robes disappear and the door shut. They looked at each other and laughed. _

"_Well, he can't tell us to get a room." Cedric chuckled before reclaiming her lips. _

"No!" she forced the memory out of her head.

"Lexi?" John smoothed the hair out of her face. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine." she looked into his eyes. "Where were we?" she said slyly as she pulled him back to her.

_She was laughing hysterically because he was tickling up and down her stomach. Her limbs were flailing everywhere. One of her legs made contact with his side._

"_Ow!" he collapsed on top of her. Able to control her body now that he wasn't tickling her, she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him. _

_Not realizing just how close they were to the edge of the bed, Cedric rolled their molded bodies. With a loud thunk, they landed on the floor. _

"Stop it!" she yelled this time.

"Okay. Sorry." John looked taken aback.

Lexi looked sympathetically at him. "No. Not you."

"Lexi? What is it? Are you feeling well?" he caressed her cheeks with his fingers.

"Sorry. I just have a monstrous headache." she groaned. It was true, her head was pounding.

John sighed. "You should sleep. I'll go."

"No." she grabbed his hand before he could leave her side. She didn't want him to leave, not after all that happened that night. He would probably go home and think about everything that was said and decide she wasn't worth the drama. He needed to know how much he meant to her, so she made an impulsive decision. "Stay here."

She saw his eyes brighten, and took that moment of weakness to pull him back down beside her.

It was odd having a man other than Cedric take her shirt off and unbutton her jeans, but John was very similar to Cedric in that he was a gentle lover. Despite that, she still let out a few silent tears that she made sure John wouldn't be able to see.

When Cedric made love to her, she couldn't think, nothing but feeling him was possible. With John, she couldn't do anything but think. She let him take complete control of her, and all she could do was see Cedric. It felt amazing and horrible at the same time. Her body was so confused.


	9. Does He Remember?

"I feel awful, Tricia." Lexi whined, scooping ice cream out of the carton and spooning it into her mouth.

"I hardly think it's your fault."

"Why is this happening?" the question was muffled due to the fact that her mouth was stuffed with ice cream. She swallowed and instantly became more coherent.

"Lex, this is normal. Okay?" Patricia patted her hand. "You're completely starting your life over after a very traumatic experience. It's expected that you still have trouble adjusting to John."

"Sex, Tricia! We were in the middle of sex, and all I could think of was Cedric. That's not normal."

"It's not a sin to still be in love with him, Lex. John understands that."

"He may understand that, but it still hurts him."

"You've done all you can do. I think the rest is up to John."

"I guess you're right." Lexi sighed. The rest was up to John, but she couldn't see how that was a good thing. "Hey, you said you had news for me. Spill."

Patricia's face turned a light shade of red. "Well, you'll never believe what happened after I left the Leaky Cauldron last night."

"What?"

"I ran in to someone…quite literally." she started. "And we started talking. We went back to the Leaky Cauldron, but you were already gone."

"Oh my God! Tell me about him! Is he cute?"

"He just moved here from France and he can hardly speak English, but his accent is adorable." Patricia squealed.

"Can I meet him? Please?" Lexi exaggerated the 'please.'

"Not yet!" Patricia swatted at her playfully. "Let me get to know him first."

Kateri stammered into the kitchen from where she had been napping on Patricia's couch. She lit right up at the sight of ice cream.

"Oh! Can I have some, Momma."

"Of course, baby girl. Here." Lexi gave her the next spoonful. "I guess we should get going soon. John's meeting us for dinner."

Lexi hesitated before she got up from her chair because she saw Patricia momentarily tighten her lips and scrunch her eyes into an expression of pain. It caused some curiosity to go off inside of her, but Kateri tugged at her arm, begging to be picked up, and all the curiosity was pushed aside.

"I'll see you later, Tricia." she told her friend, while taking a handful of floo powder and disappearing into the green flames.

--

The Diggory house was very slow that day. Amos was laying on the sofa, reading an old book, while Catherine was washing dishes the muggle way; she had nothing better to do. But their dull state quickly changed when there was a knock at the door.

Amos grudgingly put down his book, and found Kingsley Shackelbolt waiting on the other side of the threshold, surrounded by a group of three other witches and wizards. One of them was George Weasley, but the other two he did not recognize.

"Good afternoon, Amos." Kingsley greeted. "I'm sure you are surprised by our arrival, but we have some very important business that you need to be aware of."

"Of course. Come in." he lead them into the living room. "Make yourselves comfortable."

Catherine came into the room looking rather alarmed by the sudden number of visitors. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked around politely. The four guests all shook their heads. She noticed George Weasley looking somewhat depressed. She sat down next to her husband, all attention on Kingsley.

"I honestly don't know how to tell you this, it's probably the first time in history that it has ever been done." Kingsley cleared his throat. "A discovery was made down in the Department of Mysteries a couple of days ago. Are either of you familiar with the Death Room?"

The room was suddenly tense. Death was not a subject that liked to be broached in the Diggory house. Both Catherine and Amos shook their heads no, both unable to speak.

Kingsley looked to the black haired witch, who sat to his right.

"Inside the Death Room stands a dais, and on the dais hangs a veil. The veil is what separates the living from the dead. For some time now, Unspeakables have been working to get in touch with the voices of the dead. It is believed that if we can better understand death, we could better understand life." the woman explained.

"I don't understand how this concerns us." tears were welling up in Amos' eyes, making his voice thick.

"Something happened down in that room a couple of days ago." the woman continued. "A few Unspeakables were working and there was an explosion. We don't know what triggered it. It was probably an accident of some kind." she swallowed before continuing. "When the smoke cleared, they found bodies, five of them, lying on the dais next to the veil. The bodies were breathing, so they quickly brought them up to St. Mungo's."

"It was there that the Healers found that the unconscious people were actually declared dead, months, years prior." the man on the other side of Kingsley continued.

At this point. Amos was crying full force and Catherine had her hands covering her mouth, trying to muffle the wail that was trying to escape.

"Cedric was among them." the man finally affirmed. Catherine let her tears and her wail out.

"I know this comes as a shock to you." Kingsley said, his voice very soft and warm. "But it's true. Cedric is currently in St. Mungo's, working with a team of Healers, trying to get all his memory back."

Catherine looked at him in alarm. "Does he remember us?"

"That's why I'm here, Catherine." George Weasley finally spoke up. "He remembers you and Amos, and most of the younger part of his life. But…"

He didn't seem able to continue.

"But?" Amos prompted him.

"But he doesn't remember most of the months leading up to his death." it looked like George had tears in his eyes.

"Lexi." Amos whispered.

George nodded. "They've tried everything, but Lexi isn't there in his memories. They can't find her."

"And he never had any idea about Kateri." Amos whispered to his wife.

A new round of tears came down Catherine's cheeks. "She'll be devastated."

"She can't find out about this." Kingsley told them. "Not until he has some recollection as to who she is. The shock of their history will be much too strong for him to handle."

"I disagree, Minister." George spoke up. "I think Lexi should know. Even if he can't remember her, she would want to know."

"What about the baby?"

"Kateri can handle it. Cedric is very alive to her." Amos spoke for his granddaughter.

"I think the emotional trauma she has experienced will resurface if we tell Miss Beckham." the man, obviously a Healer, commented. "I think it would be better if we waited until we have further information about Cedric's condition."

Kingsley nodded in approval.

"I don't feel comfortable keeping this from her, but it seems we have no choice." Catherine stood up and went to look out the window.

"When can we see him?" Amos asked the Healer.

"Apart from his memory, Cedric is doing spectacularly." the Healer told them. "We can bring him here tomorrow, if that suits you."

"Yes. Thank You."

"I'm granting you this week off, Amos." Kingsley told him. "If you need more time, please feel free to tell me. I know this is going to be a very emotional time for you."

"Thank you, Kingsley." Amos shook the Minister's hand.

That night, neither Catherine or Amos could sleep. All they could think about was Cedric, and in extension, his family. It was like a cycle that went through their heads. Cedric, Lexi, Kateri, and occasionally even John popped up into their thoughts. They knew it would be a very sticky situation with John also in the picture. He was the reason why they had consented to not tell Lexi about Cedric immediately. It was going to be hard enough for her, but she wouldn't want to hurt John; they knew that. But was it right to let the two of them get closer when, inevitably, Lexi would choose Cedric? Or, if they waited, and Lexi ended up choosing John, would Cedric be completely crushed if he ever remembered her?

But all of those thoughts were pushed aside the next morning when there was once again a knock at the door. Amos and Catherine held their breaths as the door opened upon a slim, tall figure, with rumpled sandy brown hair. His clear blue eyes sparkled at them as he smiled.

"Mum. Dad." Cedric's voice echoed in their ears. It had been almost four years since they heard that voice and they reacted immediately to it. Their arms flew around him into a huge hug. He was really back.


	10. In A Physical Sense

Monday was tense in the office. John sat quietly at his desk and Lexi couldn't concentrate because she was afraid he was too angry with her. By the end of the day, the only talking communication that went on between them was too casual small talk. He talked more to Kateri than he did to her.

Tuesday was worse. It started out the same as Monday, but it was worse because she confronted him on it.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked him during lunch.

"Why would I be mad at you? Do I have a reason?" John's voice, though trying to be calm, couldn't help the snap that came out.

"I don't know, John. You're just acting really weird."

"Am I? Because crying in the middle of having sex is a little weird to me too."

"I told you I'm trying, John. But I can't stop it sometimes. It was all very sudden."

His eyes flashed flame. "Are you blaming me for pushing you into this, because if I remember correctly -"

"No! John, I'm not blaming you for anything." the flame in his eyes were making her eyes burn with tears. "Please understand."

"I don't know if I can." he admitted in a whisper, looking away from her.

"Maybe we rushed into this a little too fast." she told him.

When he looked back at her, his eyes were tortured. It was an expression she had never seen before, but an expression she knew.

"I don't know, Lexi. Maybe we did."

She was suddenly very angry. Not only with him for giving up on them so easily, but at herself for not being able to control her emotions. Without thinking she left the room, letting her feet take her where they wanted to go. She was lead to the third floor classroom, that was currently not being used because students were off for lunch. She sat against the wall and let her head rest upon her knees.

It was her first major fight with John, so predictably, she began to compare this fight to the many she had had with Cedric. They were quite different.

"_Cedric, can you pass me my bag?" Lexi whined. They were sprawled out on the floor, circled around the communal books, parchment, and ink. _

"_It's in the middle, Lex. You get it." He didn't look up from his Arithmancy book._

"_But it's heavy, and you're stronger." she pouted. _

_He looked up at her just to roll his eyes and looked back down at his book. _

"_Cedric."_

"_Can't you see that I'm busy?" his voice clearly stated that he was not in a good mood. _

"_Fine." Lexi grudgingly leaned forward and dragged her bag towards her by its strap. But the bag was so packed that the strap tore off. "Great. Look what you made me do."_

"_If you're going to blame that on me, you're crazy."_

"_If you had just pushed the bag to me like I asked, this wouldn't have happened!"_

"_Well, if you weren't so lazy and got up to get it, it wouldn't have happened."_

"_So, I'm crazy and lazy?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And you're a git who deserves to be slapped!"_

_She got to her feet, leaving her ripped bag and everything else, and walked brusquely to the door._

_Without a word, Cedric got up and in two short strides had his hands around her waist before she could reach for the doorknob. He turned her around to face him and kissed her with so much force that they stumbled back into the door. _

"_I hate it when you do that." she muttered against his lips when he loosened his hold on them. _

"_No, you don't." _

"_I know." she kissed him again._

That was the summary of just about every fight they ever had. Cedric never let her leave the room. Ever. Every fight was resolved within five minutes from the starting point, at the most. Their fights were mostly pointless nonsense, and both of them knew they were being ridiculous. But most fights lead to clothes being ripped off, which was probably why they fought so much, and was probably why Kateri was alive.

She needed to stop comparing John to Cedric. Nothing between her and John would ever be resolved if she did. She let out a resigned sigh and left the room to go back and confront him about it. Running away from the problem was never going to get anything done.

But the office was empty when she entered. His lunch sandwich sat half eaten on his plate. He must have left shortly after her. Lexi sat back in her chair and tried to get back to work.

It wasn't until thirty minutes later that John came back in, looking defeated, but his eyes lit up when he realized Lexi was there.

"Lexi, I'm so sorry." he pleaded, walking over and wrapping his arms around her.

For some reason, and she thought she knew why, this gesture annoyed her. But she kept her emotions in check, knowing it would get them no where if she started fussing at him again. "Don't apologize, John. It's my fault."

"No, it's not. I know this is difficult for you. And I just want you to know that I'm here for you, baby."

"Thanks." she hugged him back. "Hey, I think I'm going to cut out early today, but can you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Can you drop Kateri off at my place when you leave?"

"If you need me to. May I ask where you're going?"

"I just… I need to do something."

He nodded and kissed her before she left. She didn't deserve him.

Lexi apparated into the familiar grave yard. The wind was more fierce than usual, and it almost knocked her over a few times. She huddled herself next to his head stone.

"Cedric." she felt the immediate affect of her tears streaming down her face. The wind whipped against them, making them sting. "Please, Cedric. Let me go. I can't do this, I can't live without your blessing."

She paused, waiting to feel his answer, but nothing came to her. His soul didn't reach out and touch her. She was unnerved by his lack of spiritual presence. "Please, let me go." she begged again.

Still nothing. Maybe that was his sign that he let her go, that she didn't belong to him anymore. She felt empty without him. It was unbearable.

She sat there for hours, feeling nothing. Finally, she got up and apparated back to her flat. John was sitting on the couch, watching Kateri play with some of her dolls. He looked up at her when she entered and gave her a warm smile. A part of the emptiness disappeared. She threw her arms around him and crawled into his lap. Kateri smiled up at them and continued to play with her dolls. It was almost like they were a family.

Back at the Diggory house, Cedric was getting settled back into his room. It was just as he remembered it always being: the quidditch posters, the black fabrics. Nothing had changed. His parents were good that way.

"Is everything alright, son?" Amos asked him. Cedric had been standing in the same spot for quite some time.

"Perfect." he sat down on his bed.

"Healer Ford is on his way now." Amos informed him.

As if Amos had summoned him by saying his name, Healer Ford knocked gently on the door.

"How is everything?" the Healer asked as Amos left the room

"Everything is perfect." Cedric lied again. How could he be perfect when it felt like a huge chunk of himself was missing?

"I don't know how long this will take, but I assure you it is completely painless." he said, pulling out his wand from his cloak pocket.

Right. Painless. In the physical sense. "What do you need me to do?" Cedric asked kindly.

"All you have to do is lay back and relax."

"I think I can do that."

"Alright. You won't feel a thing."

Healer Ford flicked his wand and everything instantly went black.


	11. That's A Tricky One

Healer Ford had lied. There was pain. His heart ached, but he didn't know why. Snippets of memories flew around in his head; camping trips with his parents; flying around the yard on his brand new broom; and blackness. Sometimes, total blackness would fill his mind, and that is when his heart started aching. The blackness was not new, but he did see more than before. His name was pulled out of a large, fiery goblet, everyone was cheering for him. Blackness. There was a pretty girl with long raven black hair dancing with him, they looked happy together. Blackness. The walls of a coffee shop are decorated with so much pink it was sickening, while the raven haired girl smiled at him. Blackness. He pushed the girl to the surface and their heads broke through the water to celebratory screams, while his eyes searched the stands for something, or someone, that wasn't there. Blackness. The girl's hand reached out and slapped him, she had tears in her eyes. Blackness. Blackness. Blackness. Green. Bright green.

It was over. His eyelids fluttered open and Healer Ford was leaning over him.

"Did you find anything new?" the Healers warm voice was loud in his ears.

"Yes. I saw a girl."

"A girl? Well, that's great."

"Yes. Great." Then why didn't he feel great?

Cedric went downstairs to join his parents.

"Can you tell me something?" he asked them as he sat down in one of the dining chairs. Catherine was busy cooking, and Amos was reading the paper.

"Depends on what it is." Catherine told him.

"There was a girl," he noticed both his parents tense, "and she had long black hair." they untensed. "Who was she?"

"If I remember correctly, that was probably Cho Chang." Amos informed him. Catherine looked at him warningly. "Nice girl."

"Do you know where I could find her?" Cedric wasn't sure why, but he felt that if he found this girl, she might be able to fill in some of the blackness.

He noticed Catherine lift an eyebrow in Amos' direction.

"You know, son, I'm pretty sure she works at the ministry now. I can probably get that information for you." Amos told him.

"Why do you want to find her?" Catherine asked carefully.

"I don't know. I don't know anything right now." he muttered back.

--

The morning dawn, bright and sunny. John's arm was slung over her waist under the sheets, and he was silently snoring in her ear. There was a small knock on the door and Kateri slowly stepped in.

"What's the matter, baby girl?" Lexi asked her drowsily.

"Nothing. But I'm hungry." she whispered, trying not wake up John. But her pains were not necessary for John rolled over and opened his eyes. Kateri giggled her bubbly laugh at his sleepy expression.

"Does someone want breakfast?" he yawned.

Kateri nodded and giggled again.

"Do omelets sound good?" he picked the little girl up onto the bed between himself and Lexi.

"You never told me you can cook."

"I can make killer omelets. That's just about it." he admitted.

"Omelets!" Kateri shouted excitedly. Lexi doubted she knew what an omelet was, but then again Kateri would probably eat anything John told her was good. She had become very attached to him. It worried her until she saw just how much John adored her in return.

Lexi pulled the little girls closer into her side. "It's too early for shouting, baby." and she kissed the side of her head.

"Be right back." John left the room.

"Momma?"

"Hmm?"

"Is John my new daddy?"

She couldn't answer. It had not been a good idea to let Kateri become so close to him. "No, baby. You know who your daddy is."

Kateri looked around her at the photo of Cedric on the nightstand, and sighed.

"I wish I could really see him, and have a real daddy."

It was heart breaking to watch her. Kateri sighed again and slipped off the bed. But Lexi sat where she was for a long time, thinking. The only thing she wanted for her daughter was for her to be completely happy. She wanted to give her everything imaginable. But some of that wasn't possible without a father, or at least a father figure.

She picked herself out of bed and went into the kitchen to find John bouncing Kateri on his hip, while the little girl was smiling and telling him exactly what she wanted on her omelet.

Later that afternoon, after John had left, Lexi found herself walking up the stairs to the apartment above Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"George!" she called.

"Uncle George!" Kateri helped.

"Well if it isn't two of my favorite girls." George came out of his bedroom. "I got a surprise for you Kitty-Kat."

Kateri frowned at the nickname. "What?"

He suddenly grabbed her from Lexi and tickled the little girl all over. Kateri shrieked with laughter; she loved it when her Uncle George did that. Finally, he put her down and she ran off into the living room to play with a few toys he had set aside for her visits.

"So, what do I owe this visit to?" he asked Lexi as they sat down around the dining table.

"I don't know what to do, George."

"Concerning?"

"Kateri, John, Cedric."

"Hmm. I'm not so sure I'm the best person to talk to."

"I tried Tricia, but she didn't answer my floo call, and I tried Amos, but his fireplace is off the network and he didn't answer his door either."

"Well, tell me what you need, and I'll do my best to answer."

"This morning Kateri asked me if John was her father."

"Oh. That's not good." George knew that was really not good in a way that Lexi didn't. He felt guilty. He wanted to tell her so bad.

"No. Not at all. I don't want her getting so attached. John and I are going through some difficult situations, and if things were to end badly I don't want her feeling the effects of it too."

"That's a tricky one."

"I don't know what to do." Lexi sank her head into her hands.

George made up his mind then and there that he would somehow get everyone to agree to tell Lexi about Cedric. She had to know. "I don't know what to tell you, Lex. I guess just give it time."

"That's what everyone has been saying." she groaned.

"But I know how important it is for you to keep Kat in touch with Cedric. I always thought that it was great you did that."

"Thanks." she gave him a weak smile. "I should probably go. Let you get back to whatever it is you were doing."

"Nah. Stay for lunch." he insisted.

--

After leaving Lexi's flat, John made his way over to Patricia's house. He knocked on the door, and waited for a couple minutes until she answered.

"John!" she looked happy to see him.

"Hey, Patricia."

"Is something wrong?" she must have caught the false cadence in his voice.

"Lots of things."

"Why don't you come on in." she lead him into the kitchen where it appeared she was making lunch. "How'd you know where I live?" she asked curiously.

"Lexi's address book. It was on the counter this morning, so I looked you up." he smiled bashfully.

"Well, I'm glad you did." she gave him a warm smile. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I have to tell you I have a date tonight, so I'm sorry if I seem a little preoccupied."

"Oh. Okay." he didn't know why, but hearing that Patricia had a date stirred something inside of him.

"What's the problem, John?"

"Well, mostly it's Lexi." he started. "She came home last night and everything seemed to be fine. And this morning when we woke up, everything was fine. But during breakfast it was like she was drifting again. I don't know what happened. Did I do something wrong?"

"I'm sure you didn't. Lexi has a lot on her mind, and consequently her moods seem to change without warning. It's just something you have to grow used to. She's always been like that."

"Oh. I guess that's good to know."

"Tricia!"

Both Patricia and John froze. Lexi's voice echoed from the fireplace in the other room. Patricia motioned for him to stay quiet. For five minutes, Lexi waited and called from the fireplace.

"I guess there is something wrong. She usually doesn't come to me unless there is." Patricia told him once she left."

"Great. More drama."

Patricia raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Are you happy with her, John?"

"Of course." he said defensively. "I think… I think I might love her actually."

Patricia felt her heart plummet.

--

George walked straight into Healer Ford's office. "I don't care what you say. I'm telling her."

"Excuse me."

"Lexi Beckham. She needs to know about Cedric."

"We already discussed this. It's not in her best interests to tell her yet."

"You don't know Lexi. I know Lexi. So, I think I'm the better judge of what is 'in her best interest.'"

"As long as Cedric doesn't find out about her."

"Why?"

"Cedric needs to find her on his own. I think it will be the only way for him to get his memories back."

"Fine. I'll bring her by here tonight. I'll need your help explaining."

"That's fine. I'll see you tonight."

George was in a hurry. Before Lexi had left his apartment after lunch, she had pretty much decided what she was going to do with John. Now he had to find her, before she did anything she would regret.


	12. I'll Wait For You

It was a rare occurrence to be completely alone with John, Kateri-free, but Patricia had spontaneously volunteered to babysit her, and John and Lexi were now lying on her bed after having a very pleasant meal out.

John was resting his back against the head board and Lexi's head rested in his lap. His hand stroked her hair softly, soothing her while she thought. She had just about decided that she was going to stay with John until he got sick of her; she wouldn't blame him if he did. But Kateri still worried her. She could take care of herself, but how was all of the drama going to affect her three year old daughter? How was she going to explain everything to her? The soothing really didn't help because it made her want to stay with him even more, and she was trying to look at this objectively.

That became impossible real quick when John moved her and slid down to lay beside her. He kissed her gently, yet urgently. It felt like he was nervous about something. She quickly found out what that was.

John leaned away and rested his cheek against hers. "I love you, Lexi." he whispered.

She took a struggled breath and smelled a scent that was all too familiar. It wasn't the scent that normally came from John. It was a different, more appealing mix of spices. It was a scent that brought her so much joy years before. She couldn't believe her memory had stored away Cedric's scent so vividly.

And she felt her lips heat up like they were on fire. It was a passion that only one person had ever evoked. Cedric's lips on hers was the best feeling she could imagine.

What the hell was happening? John was telling her he loved her and all she could think about was Cedric's smell and lips? Her breathing had stopped, because it could only mean one thing.

John kissed her again, trying to distract her she guessed. This time it was much more urgent - he was nervous about her answer.

"John." she murmured against his lips. It was time.

"I understand if you don't love me too. I'll wait for you, Lexi."

"No." she began to cry. John wrapped his arms around her and she didn't fight him, even though she knew she should. He let her soak his shirt, and she did.

When speech was possible again, she tried to tell him…again.

"John. I'm so sorry, but -"

"Lexi, it's okay. I told you -"

But he was interrupted too; apparently neither of them could finish a thought. There was an urgent knock on the door, which was quickly followed by the door bell ringing.

"Just ignore it." John told her.

"Lexi!" the faint deep voice shouted from behind the front door.

"It's George." she told him.

Lexi got up, followed quickly by John, and answered the door.

--

George had no idea where to look for Lexi. He tried her flat first, but got no answer. He was about to go to the Diggory house, but quickly remembered that she couldn't be there, so next he tried Patricia's flat.

She answered the door, tears streaming down her face, and she threw herself on him in a hug.

"Tricia? What happened?"

"Shh. Kateri's trying to sleep." she pointed to the little girl sleeping on the couch.

"Tell me." he whispered, all thoughts of Lexi being momentarily pushed aside.

"Remember I told you that I started seeing this French guy I met?"

George nodded.

"Well, Kateri was sleeping, and I couldn't find my sweater. Then I remembered that I had left it at his house when I spent the night there last night." she explained, still sobbing, making it hard to understand her. "So, I went to his house to get it. Kateri's a sound sleeper, I wasn't worried. I was only going to be gone for a couple minutes. Anyway, when I got there the door was unlocked so I just went in, and that's when I saw him. With her. He was in the middle of having sex with another woman."

She sobbed harder, and Kateri twitched, almost coming back into consciousness.

"Oh, Tricia." he hugged her again, partly because she needed it, and partly because she was about to wake up the sleeping child only a few meters away.

"He wasn't even cheating on _me_! He was cheating on her by using me! They've been together for months."

"He's scum. Not even worth all this fussing."

"Am I that easy?"

"You are not easy." he told her firmly. "Remember back in fifth year when I was trying to go out with you, and you down right refused. Believe me, you are not easy."

She giggled a little at the memory.

"Why did you stop by, anyway? You looked like you were in a rush."

"Actually, I wanted to know if Lexi was here."

"No. She's out with John right now. They're probably back at her place. Why?"

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you yet. But I promise I will." he looked at her apologetically. He knew she hated being kept out of the loop, and he felt even worse about it given her current state. "Just keep Kateri here. I'll probably come back for her later."

"Okay." she gave him one last hug. "Thanks. And good luck with whatever it is you're up to."

He smiled at her before apparating again to Lexi's flat. He banged on the door and rang the door bell.

"Lexi!" he called. He repeated the steps again until she finally opened the door, John behind her.

"Lexi, you have to come with me." he told her, not bothering with a greeting.

"Why? What is it? Is somebody hurt?"

"No. Everyone is perfectly fine, but I have to tell you something, and it is very important that you come with me right now."

"Alright." she grabbed her coat and purse. John grabbed his coat as well.

"I'm sorry, John. But this is only for Lexi." George told him.

Lexi looked at him and he backed down.

"I'll be right back." she told him, but then turned to George for confirmation.

"I don't know how long it's going to take." which was true. He didn't know how long it would take for her to be able to take in all the news he was about to tell her.

"I'll wait." John nodded and retreated back into the house.

Lexi shut the door behind her. "Where are we going?"

"To St. Mungo's. There is a Healer there that will explain everything."

"Can you clue me in just a little bit?"

"Wait, Lex."

"Fine." she grumbled.

--

The office George led her to was too bright and too cold. Lexi didn't like it. A tall man sat behind the desk, writing something very long on a piece of parchment.

"Good evening, Miss Beckham." he smiled kindly at her.

"George tells me that you have some news for me?"

"Yes. It's concerning your… uh… fiancé."

Lexi froze. That was the last thing she had expected. She looked at George like he had betrayed her, and he had sadness in his eyes. This was not good news, she could tell.

"Cedric?" just saying his name brought tears to her eyes.

"Lexi," George rested a hand on her shoulder and led her to a chair by the desk. "I know this will be hard for you to accept, but please believe me when I say it's the truth."

"What's going on?" she tried to keep her voice calm.

"Miss Beckham, through an unpredicted series of events, your late fiancé was discovered in the Death Room of the Department of Mysteries… alive."

Her entire body was shaking. It couldn't be true. "Alive?" she whispered, her voice unable to get anymore volume.

The healer nodded. Lexi turned to George. "Why are you doing this to me? Everything was fine. My life was going back to normal. Why are you bringing all of this back?"

She couldn't control the tears that fell.

"Lexi, you have to believe me. I've seen him." George kneeled beside her chair.

Lexi slapped his face with as much force as her shaking arms could muster. Quickly, she got to her feet, but everything was moving around her and the floor seemed to be coming up to meet her. She felt George's arms catch her before everything went black.


	13. Character Building

Cedric's face swam in her thoughts against the blackness. He was back. He was really back. She had seen that in George's eyes when he told her, but she was being too stubborn to realize it. Cedric, the only person who could hold her heart, was back. Then why was she wasting her time in blackness?

Lexi willed herself to push further, to get out of the blackness, and finally she found light. It grew more vivid, and colors and shapes started to appear. Bright red was the first color she saw. George sat beside her. She realized she was lying in a hospital bed. The lights were dim.

"Lexi?" George whispered.

"Where is he?"

She saw George give a small smile, but it faltered. "He's with Amos and Catherine at their house. He's perfectly healthy… but…"

The reason for the falter was about to be revealed. "But?"

"Lexi, he doesn't remember you. Part of his memories seem to be… gone."

She took a deep breath to steady herself. "I knew it was all too good to be true."

"I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you about it sooner, but everyone seemed to think that it was best to wait, especially since Cedric has absolutely no idea about Kateri."

"Thank you. I'm glad you told me."

"I knew you'd want to know." he patted her hand. "Healer Ford has been working with Cedric, trying to get his memories back, but he thinks Cedric needs to find you for himself, or something like that."

"That's right." Healer Ford's voice came from the doorway, which was letting in way too much light. Ford seemed to realize this and quickly closed the door behind him and took stood behind George.

"I won't tell Kateri until the time is right."

"That's probably the best way." Ford agreed.

"When can I see him?"

"Lexi, he has to find you, remember?" George commented.

"How is he supposed to do that if he doesn't see me?"

The room was silent. Then Ford spoke up. "She has a point. Cedric won't know how to look if he has no idea what he's looking for. It would be like looking for a certain piece of hay in a hay stack without knowing the certain aspect that differentiates that piece from the others." he quickly got out a notepad and started writing his thoughts down.

"So, when?"

George smiled at her. "Let me floo Amos. You go get ready."

Lexi was about to leave to go back to her flat, when the thought struck her. John.

He would be devastated. She knew she was going to break up with him anyway, but with Cedric back it made the break up seem more like a betrayal. Before, she was leaving him for another man, emotionally. Now, she was leaving him for another man, emotionally and physically. He had told her he loved her, and she told him that she never wanted to hurt him. But now the only thing she wanted was Cedric. She was betraying John.

And he was also supposed to be waiting for her at her home.

Thankfully, he wasn't there when she arrived. Relieved that she didn't have to bare that burden at the moment, she concentrated on meeting Cedric again. She had to look just right. In the end, she was dressed in her favorite midnight blue robes, with a white blouse that was so low cut it was sure to intrigue some memory.

But, despite all her preparations, she was still shaking with nervousness as she walked up the path to the Diggory house. Amos had apparently been waiting for her because he opened the door before she even made it up the steps to the porch.

"Lexi." he hugged her. "I wanted to tell you sooner but they wouldn't let me."

"How is he?" she asked him. The only thing she could think about was Cedric.

"He's fine." Amos' smile fell. "Will you be alright?"

"I'll do my best."

Suddenly a tall figure stepped through the door. Cedric was running his hands through his hair, his eyes sparkling as always. Lexi took in a sharp breath and had to hold onto Amos' arm tightly in order not to fall over. She had to repress the urge to throw her arms around his neck and smother him with kisses. It was a very difficult task, a much sharper pain than she expected.

"Hi." he reached a hand toward her, a broad smile on his face. "You must be Lexi. Mum and Dad have been raving about you all morning."

"Is that so?" she shook his outstretched hand. The moment their fingers met, a jolt of electricity shot through her body. The same thing must have happened to Cedric because he looked down at their hands with an odd expression. Their hands knew each other all too well, even if his mind didn't.

"Shall we go in?" Amos lead the way into the house.

Lexi noticed that Cedric kept giving her surreptitious glances. He was curious about her. That had to be a good sign. She was especially thrilled when she caught him peeking down where her shirt revealed her chest while they ate lunch. There was probably something sick about the amount of pleasure she felt by that, but she felt less sick when she reminded herself that he was the only person on the face of the planet that could get away with it.

Amos kept the conversation rolling with mindless chatter. The easiness gave her the opportunity she wanted to speculate on Cedric's every move: his words, his expressions, the way his mouth curved when he spoke, the sparkle in his eyes, the way his hair casually swept across his forehead, his voice, his laugh. Every once in a while, his eyes would catch hers, and his lips would twist up into a small grin. She felt herself give a similar reaction as well.

By the end of lunch, Amos and Catherine said they were ready for a nap and headed up the stairs to their room.

On the last step, Amos turned his head back towards them. "Don't forget about that door, Ced. You're welcome to stay, of course, Lexi."

So that had been their plan all along - get the two of them alone. Lexi had no problem with that… except she would have to find something else to support when Cedric made her go weak in the knees, which happened often.

Thankfully, the door painting that Amos mentioned had to be done without magic, so she got to sit.

"Healer Ford told me not to use magic right now. He's going to have me start slowly with the magic. Since this is all new, he's being cautious. I understand that, but it's still annoying." Cedric explained to her as the two of them sat on the porch, painting the door.

"So, why didn't Amos just do this? It would have taken him like a second." Lexi frowned, brushing the paint up and down the length of the door.

"'Character building.'" Cedric quoted his father, then smiled, raising an eyebrow at her. "But I could ask you the same question."

"I agree. You need some character building." Lexi nodded with a sly expression.

Cedric chuckled. "Right."

He dipped his brush into the paint can. "You said you were an Arithmancer for Gringotts?"

Lexi nodded.

"That's interesting. I've always wanted to be curse-breaker if my quidditch plan fell through."

Lexi smiled to herself; she already knew this.

_The day was clear and blue - the perfect day for a picnic by the lake. It probably would have felt perfect too, if it wasn't for the growing sense of dread inside of her._

_Lexi sat nestled into Cedric's side, eating her sandwich, and listening to Amos Diggory go on and on about how lucky she was to be marrying his son. _

"_Wait." Amos' voice changed and his eyes narrowed. "Have you two discussed how this will effect your quidditch, Ced?"_

"_Dad." Cedric gave an exasperated sigh. "Why is everything revolved around quidditch?"_

_Lexi cut him off before he could say something he would regret. "Amos, I support Cedric in whatever he wants to do."_

_She felt Cedric's arm tighten around her appreciatively. _

"_That's all well and good, Lexi, but what will happen when you decide to start a family?"_

_A pang of guilt shot through her. If they only knew. They would in just a few hours, and then they would be having a very different conversation. Lexi hoped the Diggorys wouldn't resent her for being so irresponsible with their son's future._

"_Dad, we're still in school. We'll figure that out when the time comes. Besides, I'm not completely ruling out working for Gringotts. If Lexi and I get the necessary NEWT grades, we can both be curse-breakers. That would probably work out better for both of us."_

"_But you've worked so hard for quidditch." Amos whined. _

_Lexi had to smile at his persistence. "Don't worry, Amos. I won't let him give it up completely. But it is his decision."_

_All three faces beamed at her. _

"I thought you were a Gryffindor." Cedric's teasing tone pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I was."

"Canary yellow?" he pointed to the canary yell band of fabric on her left ring finger. Her eyes grew wide - she had forgotten to take it off before she came. "You're a horrible Gryffindor."

She relaxed her self to give the appearance of nonchalance as she tried to find a quick lie. "Oh. My daughter made it for me. It's her favorite color."

Lexi couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth. She completely forgot about the secret keeping policy, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Cedric didn't seem to pick up on her panic, he was busy looking at his paint strokes.

But she did see the small frown of confusion that creased his brow. "You have a daughter?"

She couldn't deny it then. "Yes. I got pregnant at the end of my sixth year."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I took a year off, and Dumbledore let me take my courses by correspondence the next school year. The I sat my NEWT exams when I was finished. I had a lot of support from… family. I couldn't have done it without them."

She felt tears rising in her eyes remembering how supportive Amos and Catherine had been, but manage to push them back before Cedric could see them.

--

Cedric looked at the woman sitting across from him, waving her paint brush back and forth across the wood absently. Her curly brown hair fell around her shoulders and shadowed her face, she looked like she was deep in thought. Other people may not agree, but he thought she was beautiful. Whenever she he looked at her, it was like her eyes spoke to him. It was weird and completely inexplicable, but in a good way. Just being around her made him feel better than he had since he came back. Deep down inside, he felt hope.

"You make me jealous." he found himself telling her.

Her lips twisted up into a curious expression. "Why's that?"

"You seem so strong and sure of yourself. I admire that."

She smiled warmly at him, but didn't say anything in return. He didn't like that. He was insanely curious about her, mostly because he found her interesting, but also because some part of him, somewhere deep down he hoped she was part of the darkness he was experiencing. Maybe, just maybe, she could help him. Normally he didn't like to depend on people, but he found that, even in the very limited time he knew her, he didn't mind depending on her. Maybe it was because he could tell that she was a reliable person.

"You're wrong on both accounts." she let out a humorless laugh.

"That's all a matter of perspective." he smiled at her. "But let me ask you something."

"Okay."

"Dad said we went to school together." he stopped so she could affirm. "Did we ever, you know… were we ever friends?"

He saw the hesitation, but she shook her head. "No. We mainly kept to our houses, at least I did."

Somehow, Cedric felt the need to change the subject - this one was getting too dreary. He could feel it.

"So," he started, dipping his paint brush in the can, "are you bored out of your mind from painting yet?"

He didn't realize he had done it, but his wrist unconsciously flicked and some paint from his brush flew off and hit Lexi on the cheek. She wiped it off with her fingers and looked between him and the paint in semi-shock. Just her expression made him start laughing.

"You think that's funny, do you?"

"No…I think…you're funny." he laughed out.

Her lips pursed and eyes narrowed, with a sly smile she dipped her brush into the can. Cedric was laughing too hard to understand what she was doing, but before he knew it paint was being wiped across his cheek.

The door was soon forgotten. Cedric took the can and sloshed some paint all over her. She ran at him, chasing him off the porch and onto the lawn. He threw some more at her before she was able to catch up and try to grab the bucket away from him. He knew he was stronger, but all the hysterical laughing made his muscles weak, and she managed to take the bucket and splash paint all down his front. Before she could do it again, Cedric tackled her, grabbing her around her waist and pushing her to the ground. Cedric found himself on top of her, but they were both laughing too hard and trying to catch their breath to feel awkward.

Finally they quieted, and he looked at her. Her eyes seem conflicted, and he felt a sudden urge coming out of no where that was telling him to kiss her. He couldn't deny that he wanted to. Her hair was splayed wildly all over the place with paint clumps running through it. Even with the paint making a weird pattern on her face, he still thought she was beautiful.

Suddenly, Lexi's hands smacked his cheeks, and he felt cold wet paint in their midst.

He stared down at her in amazement. "You did not just print me," laughed rolling to the side and collapsing down next to her.

She smiled at her victory. "Yes, I did."

Lexi sat up to inspect the damage to her clothes, and groaned at what she saw. "Oh, this was my best robe."

"Operative word being 'was.'" he sat up too.

Lexi slapped his chest with the back of her hand. "Shut up," but she seemed to be laughing it off. Good thing, too. He would have felt awful had he ruined her best robes, which he thought looked stunning on her, painted or not.

"Don't worry. I think it's washable."

"Hmm." Lexi took her wand out and pointed it at herself. "_Scourgify_."

The paint disappeared from her robes, skin, and hair, and she looked as stunning as ever.

"Do me."

He saw an odd flash in her expression, but then she put on a smug smile.

"Character building." she told him and got to her feet.


	14. Need To Talk Now

Two days had passed, and John still hadn't heard a word from Lexi. He paced around his bedroom, too confused to begin to think straight, and too nervous about what was keeping Lexi away to confront her about it. In his frustration to know what was going on, he went to the only person he seemed to be able to trust.

John knocked on Patricia's door. She answered quickly, looking surprised to see him.

"John?"

"Hey, Tricia. Can I come in?"

"Sure." She stood aside to allow him entrance. John perched himself on her couch. Something was obviously bothering him, and she had a pretty good idea it had something to do with Lexi and Cedric. "What's up?"

"Is Lexi ignoring me?" he asked, looking down at his hands.

Patricia frowned as she sat next to him. "I don't think so. Has she not told you what happened?"

"What?! Something happened?" John panicked, almost lifting himself off the couch before Patricia sat him back down.

"It's okay, John." she tried to calm him. "Normally, I would say Lexi needs to tell you this, but she has enough on her plate as it is."

"Just tell me what happened."

There was no point holding out the suspense. Short and blunt was best. "Cedric is alive."

John was dumbfounded. "That's impossible."

"Apparently, it's not. There was an accident in the Department of Mysteries, and they found Cedric, alive."

"But… Lexi?"

"Lexi has already seen him."

"Is she… with… him?"

"Cedric doesn't remember her."

"Where is she? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, John. Right now she's out with Kateri."

"She's fine?" John repeated in disbelief. "Is she wanting to just start all over with Cedric?"

"I don't know what she's going to do."

"What about me? She doesn't tell me anything, and she expects everything to be 'fine'?!" he felt his anger bubbling up inside of him. This was so typical of Lexi.

"John, please listen to me. I know what you're going throu -"

"You don't know what I'm going through, Tricia. Sorry, but you don't." John countered, shoving a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Will you shut up!" Patricia blew up. John was once again dumbfounded. "I was just dating a guy for a month, only to find out he was using me to cheat on his girlfriend! Don't tell me I don't know!"

John didn't know what to say. All he could think of was, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Patricia sighed to calm down. "It's okay. But I do understand, John. I know what it feels like to be considered only second best. Like you're good, but not good enough. And it feels awful, doesn't it?"

John nodded, still unable to say anything after Patricia's outburst. But he was relieved he had finally found someone who understood him and his pain.

"But sometimes," Patricia continued, "you have to know when to stop trying. When the fight's not worth it."

"She is worth it." John muttered.

"Lexi is my best friend. As much as I want to take your side on this, I can't." Patricia put her hand lightly on his shoulder. "He's everything to her, John. You're fighting a pointless battle because at the end of the day Lexi will always choose Cedric."

"But he doesn't know her."

"That really doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. It means I still have a chance."

"Why are you so set on this, John?"

"Because I love her."

Patricia really wanted to wring his neck. "No, you don't."

John looked at her like she was insane. "I think I know how I feel."

"No. You don't. You think you love her because you can't stand being second best, so you're grasping on to any way to not be in that position."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Fine, John. If you want to be stubborn about this, then fight for her, but don't come crying to me when you get hurt."

"I need to talk to her. Now."

"I agree." Patricia bit her lip. "But wait until tonight, and let me talk to her first. Is that okay with you?"

John shrugged. "I guess so."

"Good." Patricia lead him back to the front door. "Go to Lexi's place at around 8:00 tonight."

John nodded and disapparated. He returned to his flat not knowing what to do until 8:00. He was still way too nervous, but at least he knew what he was nervous about. That was one relief.

To pass the time, he collapsed on his bed and tried to take a nap. But sleep seemed to hate him, he couldn't even close his eyes. All he could do was think about the probability of Lexi choosing him over Cedric. He had to admit, the odds were definitely against him. But what if, just what if, Cedric met someone else before he reciprocated any feelings to Lexi? What if another love triangle was added to their already crazy one? Lexi would have to run to him, John, for comfort. He knew she would, not only for herself, but for Kateri also. Kateri was another thing. What if Cedric didn't want to be responsible for Kateri? The little girl meant more to Lexi than her own self. She would surely return to John if it was best for Kateri.

Those were the comforting thoughts that calmed his nerves as he apparated to Lexi's flat. It had started raining, typical London, and John was soaked to the bone by the time he made it to the steps leading up to Lexi's door. He expected the rain.

What he didn't expect was a figure already sitting on the steps. As John approached, he could definitely tell it was a man, and a tall man at that. Who else had business with Lexi?

--

Cedric felt good when he left his house that morning to meet the girl from his memories. Amos had managed to find Cho Chang's address, and now he had a lunch date with her.

Healer Ford had insisted that he not try apparation yet, so Cedric was forced to take the Knight Bus. He fell out of his seat once, and had a throbbing bump on his head by the time he made it to Cho's flat. Rubbing his head, he knocked on the door.

Not two seconds later, the door was thrown open and a pretty girl with raven black hair stood before him, beaming.

"Cedric!" she threw her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. It took Cedric off guard, he didn't feel comfortable with the touchy familiarity she exuded.

Cho took hold of his hand and lead him into her living room. "So, how have you been?"

"I guess I've been fine." he replied. She sat down next to him on the couch. Right next to him. He felt an intense urge to push her to the other side of the couch. Damn his manners.

"That's good." she nodded. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"Er, no thanks. I'm fine."

"What did you want to do today?" she smiled at him. He saw that the smile must have been plastered to her face, she didn't seem to have another expression.

"I don't know. Lunch. Talk."

"After all these years, I bet it feels good to talk. Don't worry, I can talk for ages."

He chuckled politely at her joke, and he felt her sidle closer to him. Then she put her hand on his thigh.

"Cedric, I hope you know that I will always be here if you need someone to talk to." she sounded sincere. At least she wasn't smiling obnoxiously anymore. But her hand was still on his leg.

"About that drink." he made the quickest excuse he could think of. "I am kinda thirsty."

"Well, why don't we go eat?" Cho suggested. The smile was back.

They got up, and Cho brought him to her favorite restaurant in the neighborhood. It was a coffee shop that served nice deli sandwiches as well. She didn't stop chattering while they ate. Cedric was surprised that she managed to finish her food before he did.

But her endless chatter gave him plenty of time to think. Somehow, Cedric knew Cho was not part of the blackness in his memories. He remembered the feeling he got when the blackness would appear. As odd as it was, his heart would pick up speed and tingles would run through him, giving him a blissful feeling. He quickly connected the bliss with the memories that were supposed to be there - the memories were good, they gave him happiness. The woman across the table from him did not stir those emotions. In fact she had the opposite effect. He was repulsed, and he didn't know why. She seemed like a perfectly decent person when she wasn't trying too hard.

By the time Cho and Cedric returned to Cho's apartment, she had already suckered him into a second date, and Cedric was trying to think of a nice way to get out of it. At least it was nearing 5:00, so he had an excuse to leave her company for now.

"I really should be going." Cedric told her as he headed to the door.

"Alright. I'll floo you tomorrow with details for next weekend."

He gave her a cordial nod and opened the door.

"Cedric?" she called to him before he could leave. He looked back at her. "I just wanted to tell you how much it means to me that you finally chose me over Lexi."

Cedric felt his stomach plummet. "Lexi?"

She took his surprise the wrong way. "Yes. I mean with all of our history from school, I was sure you would go straight to her, but I was so happy when I got your call. Thank you."

His thoughts were everywhere: the blackness, the day painting the door, his feeling towards Cho, and Lexi. "You know what, Cho? Don't bother flooing tomorrow, and just forget about next weekend. I really don't want to go out with you, so forget about it."

He had a slight twinge of guilt as he slammed her door in her stunned face, because she had just spilled her heart out to him. But the guilt was quickly taken over by the frustration of the enigmatic blackness in his memories. It was Lexi. It had to be. Everything he felt when he was with her was the same feeling of bliss that exuded from the blackness.

Thank God his parents had decided to go out that night. The only thing Cedric could do when he got home was look for any trace of her. If he and Lexi had been involved, which he suspected they had been, there must be something in his old belongings that indicated just that. He deduced that since his parents, and Lexi for that matter, had hidden her identity from him, they must have also hidden the traces of her.

Cedric practically tore his room apart, digging through his old school trunk and his closet. There was nothing. Next he went to the attic. The dust and cobwebs were thick, but Cedric continued. He knew that it would be a newly packed box, which meant no cobwebs around it. He dug through the boxes that were closer to the entrance. Nothing. Then he went to the closet in the guest bedroom, which he always remembered as his mother's studio. There he found plenty of baby items, such as toys and a size reduced crib, that were too knew to have belonged to him when he was a baby.

That's when another truth dawned upon him. Lexi had said she got pregnant at the age of seventeen. If they had been involved… But he had to keep looking.

The hall closet was similarly void of any trace of his past. Then it hit him. It was the one place where parents always kept things that they wanted to hide from their kids, all the birthday and Christmas presents that the kids pretended not to know about. Their bedroom closet. Cedric went to his parents' bedroom and threw open the closet door. There it was, he knew it immediately: a shoe box on the top shelf that had a t-shirt thrown casually over it. Cedric took it off the shelf and brought it to his own room before opening it.

There wasn't much in the box, but its contents did surprise him. On top was a stack of photos. He flipped through them. Most of them were of Lexi, beautiful of course. Some where of the two of them together. Cho came up in one or two, as well as some people he recognized as his Hufflepuff friends. He lingered on the photos of him and Lexi, trying to put the images in his memory. They looked so happy together, which explained the blissful feeling. But no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't connect image to memory. It was unnerving.

It was what was at the bottom of the box that surprised him, and was even more unnerving: bright red, lacey underwear. There was only one reason why any man would have ladies underwear in his possession unless he were a pervert, which Cedric was not.

And the baby furniture in the guest room closet.

He _had_ to talk to Lexi. Now.

He held out his wand hand when he got to the street and waited for the Knight Bus impatiently, again. He was getting tired of depending on public transportation. Cedric was prepared this time, so when he walked out into the rainy evening in front of Lexi's flat he did not have a headache. Fifteen minutes later, Cedric found himself sitting on the steps leading up to her apartment, getting drenched by the rain.

The rain was refreshing. It was like all the elusiveness that he had been feeling was being washed away once and for all.

Then he heard a pop, and saw a new shadow linger towards him in the darkness.

"Hi." Cedric greeted him cordially when the man came right up to Lexi's flat.

"Are you here to see Lexi?" the man asked him. Cedric couldn't see his expression, but his voice was filled with confusion.

"Yeah." Cedric replied. "Do you happen to know when she'll be back?"

"Are you Cedric?" the man asked with a hint of disdain in his voice.

"Yeah." he smiled. "Who are you?"

"I'm her boyfriend! Stay the hell away from her!" he shouted. And a fist connected with Cedric's jaw.

The pain of the punch didn't even compare to the pain of the word 'boyfriend,' something Lexi had definitely failed to mention when she was flirting with him the other day while painting the door. He felt like such an idiot, and hated feeling that way.


	15. Let Me Explain

It had started raining by the time Lexi made her way with Kateri over to Patricia's apartment. Lexi loved the rain, it was like a promise for a fresh start in the morning.

"Hi, Tricia!" Lexi hugged her friend as she opened the door. Kateri pattered in beside her and went immediately to the stash of toys that Patricia had for her.

"Wow, Lex. I don't think I've seen you this happy in ages." Patricia commented, feeling a sting on John's behalf.

"Just knowing he's here is enough to boost my spirits." Lexi beamed.

"Did you tell…?" Patricia swung her head towards Kateri playing on the floor.

"No." Lexi sighed. "I don't know how."

"Come on." Patricia lead her away from the door. "I've got some fresh ice cream in the fridge."

Lexi followed, quickly telling Kateri not to make a mess with her toys.

"Have you been avoiding John?" Patricia asked as she dug the carton of ice cream out and summoned two spoons.

"Kind of. Did he talk to you?"

"Yes. And he's freaking out."

"That's exactly what I wanted to avoid." Lexi muttered, scooping out ice cream and stuffing it in her mouth.

"Well, you can't avoid it. He's still holding on, Lex."

"Hmm?"

"You need to talk to him. And, just so you know, it won't be a pretty talk."

"Great." Lexi dug her spoon in again. "What gets me is this all could have been avoided if George had just given me five more minutes before taking me away to tell me about Cedric. Did I tell you I was just about to break up with him?"

"No." Patricia sighed. "Poor John."

"I really hate this situation, Tricia. Really hate it. John is so good."

"I know." Patricia murmured, barely over a whisper.

Lexi just happened to be looking at Patricia when she spoke, and saw in her friend's eyes a longing that put the unusual cadence in her voice.

"Tricia?"

"What?" she was alarmed that Lexi had picked up on something she meant to keep hidden.

"Do you… Is there something going on between you and John?"

"No!" Patricia exclaimed a little too loudly. "No. I would never do that to you, Lex."

"Okay." Lexi pursed her lips. "Let me rephrase that. Do you want something to go on between you and John."

"Lexi, he's yours."

"John is by no means my 'property.'" Lexi argued. "But you didn't answer my question."

"I didn't mean to, Lex!" Patricia cried. "It just happened. I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" a smile crossed Lexi's face.

The more she thought about it, the more she saw how incredibly perfect Patricia would be with John. They had the same interests, had the same personality type, not to mention both seemed to be down on their luck when it came to romance. But most of all John and Patricia were two really good people who deserved their own happiness.

Patricia frowned at Lexi in confusion. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because you should have told me!" Lexi playfully slapped Patricia on the arm. "I don't need to be so selfish."

"Oh yes, I should have just come right up to you and told you that I had a huge crush on your boyfriend. That would have gone over real well."

Lexi shrugged. "Probably not, but I would have gotten over it eventually, especially since Cedric is back."

"Don't take this so lightly, Lex." Patricia went serious again. "You still have to break John's heart."

"True, but at least I can feel better about it, knowing he'll have you to mend it soon enough."

Patricia couldn't contain her giggle at the thought. "Alright. But you should get going. I told John to go see you at 8:00."

"Thanks for telling me." Lexi said sarcastically. "Oh! Can you watch Kateri? I'll come get her when I'm finished talking to him."

"Sure thing. Now go!"

Lexi went back into the rain and apparated to her flat, her spirits raised. Just as she heard herself pop in appearance, she also heard the sound of two full grown men fighting in front of her steps. As she approached the two shapes, she was able to discern their identities.

"Cedric!" she shrieked as John's fist came down on Cedric's abdomen. Her protective instinct went into full throttle, and she threw herself toward him.

But then Cedric's eyes were on her, and she was frightened. There was a hate and anger in them that she had never seen before, and they didn't soften as he looked at her because part of it was directed at her.

--

Cedric heard her shout his name, and felt her hands clasp around his arm. What was she doing? Was she trying to protect him? She was way too confusing. Or was she trying to protect this guy who was throwing punches at him by pulling him away from her precious boyfriend? She needed a reality check because the last time he checked, this other guy was the one who started it.

He felt like a fool. A lied to fool. All of this could have been prevented with just a little bit of honesty from Lexi and from his parents. And to top it off, this woman, who supposedly loved him three years ago and was now trying to stop a wrestling match between him and her boyfriend, might just be the mother of his child.

Cedric was so confused and angry that his head started spinning, which only added to the headache from the most recent punch this boyfriend was dishing out.

He gave one great heave, and pushed the man off of him. Without another glance at Lexi, Cedric got off the ground and started walking away. The only problem was that Lexi's hand was still attached to his arm, and she was following. So he swatted her hand away.

"Cedric, please. Let me explain." she pleaded with him. Despite the rain, he could tell she was crying. Lexi grabbed hold of his hand and held it in hers. He had to look at her now, and when he did he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her anymore.

--

John stood up from where Cedric had pushed him. He huffed, trying to catch his breath, and watched as Lexi, the woman he thought he loved, followed after Cedric.

She didn't even care about his well being? It was always about Cedric! She still loved Cedric. She was trying to get over Cedric. She cried while they had sex because all she could think about was stupid Cedric! It was maddening! And the moment Cedric came back, she ditches him for Cedric! Big surprise. Just once in his life, it would be nice to have a woman care about him for being him.

"Make up your damn mind, Lexi!" John heard himself shout. He wasn't referring to just tonight. He was referring to all the times that she ever had doubts about him and, yet, remained with him. Her heart had always been with Cedric, so why did she even bother pretending like she cared?

Lexi's tearful face turned to look at him. She looked honestly devastated, but to what her devastation was directed at was a mystery to him. It probably wasn't him, that was for sure.

--

Lexi watched as the gentleness returned into Cedric's eyes, but John shouted at her. Unable to ignore the obvious hurt in his voice, she turned to him and saw the same anger that had been in Cedric's expression moments ago. She had to explain this to him too. If only she could get them both to calm down enough to be civil with each other.

She stepped toward John, still holding Cedric's hand, but not a moment later she felt Cedric's hand disappear from her grasp, replaced with wet coldness. She looked back to where Cedric was stalking away.

"Cedric, wait!" she called, hurrying after him.

"Don't bother with an explanation." she heard John hiss behind her.

Lexi turned back and saw that John was walking away as well. It was like a tug-of- war match. Cedric and John were pulling her every which way as she ran back and forth between them, trying to get them back. But they wouldn't let up. Her rope was stretched thin across that gaping hole, and it didn't matter which man won because either way she would go falling into that hole.

Not a second later she heard two distinct pops that signified they both had disapparated. They both let go and she went falling. Her knees hit the hard cement of the sidewalk first. Then she started keeling over sideways and she didn't bother stretching her arm out to stop her fall. She let herself fall down into the depths of that hole. But it was a short fall and her head eventually made contact with the cement. She didn't feel it, though. All she could feel was her heart tearing itself into shreds, and the cold rain washing down her face, mingling with the more than abundant tears.


	16. Missing

Lexi didn't know how long she lay with her cheek pressed against the freezing, soaked cement until the rain stopped falling, and she didn't know how long after that until someone noticed her shivering, pale form. It was her neighbors, the Nelsons, a middle aged couple, who were coming home from a late night party at three in the morning. They found her barely breathing, ghostly white, and shivering in convulsive movements.

"Oh my God." Mrs. Nelson covered her mouth as the cab that brought them home pulled away from the curb. "It's Lexi."

"Call for a doctor and put water on to boil." Mr. Nelson stooped over and picked up Lexi's limp body.

Lexi felt a blast of hot hair that practically choked her when Mr. Nelson stepped inside his apartment. She was barely aware of where she was being transported, she didn't care.

"Get some of my clothes." Mrs. Nelson fussed as she peeled Lexi's soaked clothes from her body and covered her with a multitude of blankets.

Mrs. Nelson, sitting on the edge of her couch, stroked the wet hair from Lexi's face. "Lexi? Can you hear me?"

Lexi didn't want to answer, but she nodded anyway.

"You're going to be alright. The medics are on their way."

Lexi nodded again.

"Where's your daughter? Is she okay?"

A stinging pain racked through her body. Kateri. Her baby, who so yearned to have her father, but would never get that chance that she deserved so much because her mother was a stupid whore, who couldn't stop hurting people.

Once again she nodded, and heard the sirens that indicated the medics were on their way.

--

Cedric knew he shouldn't disapparate, Healer Ford had told him not to try yet, but the moment Lexi broke eye contact with him to look at John, all of his rage came back and he couldn't stand there, being drenched in the rain, for one more second. He was filled with a determination that helped him focus on his destination.

A second later, Cedric was standing in front of his house. He barged in to find his mother and father sitting down to a late dinner. When they saw his busted lip and bruised cheek, both of them panicked.

"Cedric!" Catherine shrieked, grabbing her wand to heal her son's injuries quickly.

"What happened?!" Amos asked, noting the rage behind the bruises.

Cedric pushed past them, trying to get to the stairs so he could be alone in his room. His mother looked hurt at his cold shoulder, but he could only bring himself to be minutely sorry. She had lied to him also.

"Cedric." Amos grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face them. "Tell us what happened."

"I found the box, Dad. You know, the one with all the pictures with Lexi!" Cedric yelled.

"That doesn't explain the injuries." Catherine said calmly, trying not to rile his anger anymore.

"After that, I went to see her, but guess who I ran into. Her boyfriend."

"You met John?" Amos's eyes bulged out of his head.

"You knew about all of this, and yet you didn't tell me?!" Cedric yelled again, all control he might have had gone. He turned away from them and stormed back toward the stairs.

Amos and Catherine ran after him.

"Cedric, wait. Let us explain."

"Why? If you and Lexi had just been a little honest, none of this would have happened!"

"Where's Lexi?"

"Hell if I know! She probably ran after that John."

"This is not Lexi's fault. Don't blame her."

"I'll blame her as much as I want. She should have told me she had a boyfriend before I made a fool of myself for her TWICE!"

Cedric bounded up the stairs, already out of breath from the running and shouting. But he stopped at the top. He just needed to know one thing.

"Her daughter. Is she mine?"

Amos and Catherine looked at each other before Catherin answered, "Yes, she is. Her name is Kateri."

Cedric sighed in frustration, and continued to his room. He collapsed onto his bed, catching the box of pictures before it fell only to throw it against the wall. If he wasn't so overwhelmed with frustration toward Lexi, John, his parents, and the suddenness of knowing all these truths only to have them ripped away, Cedric may have been able to concentrate on the complete love he suddenly felt for the little girl he'd never met.

--

John didn't know why he was drawn to Patricia's home when he left Lexi's, it just felt that she would understand him more than anyone else.

Patricia answered on the second knock and immediately fretted over his injuries without asking for an explanation. It was after she had healed his black eye and bloody nose that she asked.

"I went to Lexi's and ran into Cedric."

"Cedric started this?! That doesn't sound like him."

"Actually, I threw the first punch." John admitted.

"John!"

"Seeing him just made that green monster spring up inside of me. I couldn't control it."

"So I'm assuming you didn't talk to Lexi?" Patricia looked sympathetically at him.

"I think tonight told me everything I need to know."

"Why? What happened?"

"She went after him. It seemed like she didn't even care about me." John could have slapped himself then for being so stupid when he got involved with Lexi. "I'm not going to fight it anymore. We're over."

"I'm sorry that had to happen." Patricia put her hand on his knee and squeezed gently. He looked up at her, giving her a thankful smile.

"Thanks for being here, Tricia. I'm glad I can always count on you."

"Of course you can."

One of those awkward silences fell between them. John didn't know what to say. All he felt was a rush of emotion for Patricia, it almost brought tears to his eyes. Then it clicked.

It was Patricia. It was always her, ever since they met at the Leaky Cauldron that night not two moths ago.

Without a second thought, John leaned toward her and kissed her. He knew the second their lips touched that she felt the same way, maybe she even knew more than he did. It felt so right. Words could not describe the jolt of peace he finally felt. He let himself fall into her as she fell back into the sofa cushions.

Some hours later, after they had fallen asleep together on the couch, that they were awoken by an urgent knock on the front door. Yawning awake, holding Patricia closer to him, John looked at his watch. Who would be calling at 11:00 at night? Patricia stirred under his arms.

"Who could that be?" she was just as befuddled as he was.

Patricia tried to get up and go to the door, but John grabbed her hand before she could walk away from him.

"What if its Lexi?"

"I'll handle it. Don't worry." she assured him. She sounded so sure that he couldn't doubt her, and he relaxed.

When she opened the door, however, it was a man's voice that echoed to his ears. He got off the couch, curious.

"She's not here?" the man asked. When John looked over Patricia's shoulder, he saw that it was Amos Diggory.

"What's going on?" John asked.

"Lexi's missing." Patricia told him, worry etched into her calm façade.

"I thought she was with Cedric." John frowned.

"No. Cedric said she was with you." Amos informed him.

"Is Cedric okay?" Patricia asked him.

"No. He's so angry at her. It was because of this that I went to find her, but she's not at her place. I checked everywhere I thought she might be, but I can't find her. I'm worried, Patricia."

"Calm down, Amos. We'll find her."

"Is Kateri with you?" Amos sounded almost frantic.

"Yes, she's sleeping right now."

Amos nodded, one less burden on his back. John felt the guilt sweeping through him double. He had let his anger get the better of him, and now others were feeling the consequences for that.

"I'll call everyone, and we'll meet at your house in little bit." Patricia told Amos calmly. "We'll find her, Amos."

"I'll see then." Amos turned and disapparated.

Patricia closed the door and immediately to the fireplace.

"Tricia?" John called her.

"Yes?"

"I don't think I can do this yet. I can't face her now."

"John, if you ever want to be involved with me, you will help look for my best friend." the panic was starting to seep into her voice and expression before she turned her attention back to the fireplace.


	17. Feeling Happier

Within the hour, Amos and Catherine found their house unusually crowded. Patricia and John were the last to arrive with Kateri sleeping on John's shoulder. They joined the crowd in the living room. Lexi's mother and father were sitting on the couch with Ruby bouncing around between them. She was so excited to be included on the grownup's discussion because her parents didn't want to leave her alone in their house. Beside them sat Bree and Nick Hornsby, who had finally decided to end their elongated honeymoon when they found out their best friend was missing. Bree was trying to comfort Mrs. Beckham, who was on the verge of tears. George Weasley stood next to the chair that Angelina Johnson occupied.

"Where's Cedric?" Patricia broke the tense silence when she noticed the most important person who should be involved in the search was not present.

"He's asleep." Catherine told her calmly.

"And with Kateri being here…" Amos didn't finish the sentence, but everyone knew what he meant. It would not be a good thing for either Cedric or Kateri, especially without Lexi, who related to both of them better than anyone, there.

The meeting quickly started after that. They all agreed to spilt up and take different sections of the city - Lexi couldn't have gone far, and she couldn't have apparated away if she was in such a state. In pairs, they left and apparated to London to start the search, even though it was two in the morning.

Catherine took Kateri's sleeping form and Ruby up to the guest bedroom, having volunteered to stay behind to watch over the young ones. Just as she was about to close the door, Kateri stirred and blinked awake.

"Where's momma?" she asked drowsily, rubbing her eyes.

"She's alright, sweetheart. Go to sleep." Catherine told her. Kateri yawned and immediately fell back asleep.

Next Catherine went to check on her son down the hall. She knocked before entering. Not getting a reply, she assumed Cedric was still asleep, but when she entered Cedric was sitting on his bed fully clothed, looking at the box he had thrown against the wall like he was debating on whether to go pick it up. His anger seemed to have disappeared, turned into sadness. Instead, Catherine made up his mind for him, going to pick up the box herself.

"Why did you lie to me?" he asked in hushed voice as Catherine sat on the bed beside him, putting the box in between them.

"It was for your own good."

Cedric grimaced. "How could you possibly believe that?"

"Cedric, you are my son, and I love you, but you are being ridiculous!" Catherine was surprised at her own exasperated tone. She rarely got outdone with her son, he was normally so agreeable.

"Really? I finally figured out what was in the blackness of my mind, and when I go to confront the person about it, I find out everything she said to me before was a lie. How do you think that made me feel?"

"What if we had told you the truth? What if you had woken up from being dead for nearly four years," Catherine cringed at her words, "not remembering anything, and we told you that you had a fiancé who was still totally devoted to you waiting for you and that you had a daughter? You can't tell me that you wouldn't have been scared away by that."

"Lexi still didn't have to lie to me about having a boyfriend. She didn't have to treat me the way she did when she was already taken."

"And how do you think she feels?"

Cedric rolled his eyes, like his mother was missing the point.

"John was the very first relationship she had since you died, and they only met about two months ago." she told him, covering his hand with her own. "And at first she wasn't sure if she should date him because she didn't want to betray you. Your father and I both told her that she should because you would have wanted her happy."

Her expression turned to disappoint, another first when it came to her son. "At least we thought you would have."

Cedric couldn't look at his mother. He was speechless. Catherine, however, certainly was not.

"Did you know Kateri's last name is Diggory? Her full name is Kateri Elizabeth Diggory, not Beckham. In fact Lexi has always tried her best to show Kateri who her father is."

"How so?" his voice was barely over a whisper. He still couldn't look up and instead occupied his eyes by looking down at his ringing hands.

"Kateri has collected pictures from both Lexi and us. She always demands to hear stories about her heroic father, her favorite being the one about you fighting the dragon. And on special occasions we would bring her out to the cemetery, and she would have long conversation with you. I must say, there was no room for us to grieve when she did that, it was too sweet. She loves you so much, Cedric."

It was an odd feeling, a mix of guilt and bliss. Off in the back of his memories, Cedric vaguely heard echoes of long one-sided conversations from someone with a high squeaky soprano voice. It was the oddest thing, to remember distantly things from when he was dead. That must have been why he was so close to the edge of the veil, and why he had been one of the few to return when the Unspeakables messed up their spell - someone was still holding onto him so thoroughly, still loved him so unconditionally, that he could never really disconnect from the world of the living. Cedric couldn't stop himself from completely loving the daughter he had never met.

He gave a light chuckle, but Catherine could still see the sadness in his eyes.

"Cedric?" she gave his hand a light squeeze.

He finally looked at her, with a burning fire in his eyes, but it was passion instead of the old anger. "Where's Lexi?"

Now it was Catherine's turn to look away form her son. "Cedric… after the fight, it seems…"

"What? What happened?" panic caught in his throat. How could things possibly get any worse?

"No one can find her. We sent people out to look for her shortly before I came up here."

"Why didn't you tell me before?!" Cedric jumped to his feet, pulling on a jumper and his robes.

"Because… well, because Kateri. She's here. In the guest bedroom, sleeping. We didn't want to scare her. I'm sorry." Catherine looked apologetically at her son.

Cedric hadn't thought about that. How would his daughter react to him after he had been gone for so long? How would they explain everything to her? Was this the right thing for her? What if she was too scared by the idea that she never wanted to see him again? To love him again? His head started spinning at the horrible idea, and he collapsed back onto his bed.

"Why don't you go look for Lexi with your father. The sooner she is found, the sooner we can sort everything out." she seemed to sense his turmoil, squeezing his hand again. "He's looking around Diagon Alley. He just left, and I bet you could catch up with him."

Cedric nodded and, without looking at his mother again, left the room to find his father.

--

Lexi was vaguely aware that she was in a hospital, surrounded by doctors. Not healers, doctors. Her consciousness was floating back and forth, but it didn't matter because the only things she could be aware of when she was conscious, other than the distant voices, was the uncontrollable shaking that her body was involuntarily doing to maintain her very limited body heat.

Despite her continuously changing state, Lexi could still only think about one thing: Cedric and the fury in his eyes. She had screwed everything up, and he would probably never forgive her. The unbearable truth was as simple as that, and she would have to face the consequences. Maybe never waking up would be the best thing - she could never live in a world in which Cedric hated her.

--

She wanted to weep for everything that had happened, but she didn't have control of her body. Everything was black.

Cedric didn't have a problem finding his father in Diagon Alley, but Lexi was a different story. He and Amos searched everywhere, even through the streets of Knockturn Alley, but Lexi was no where to be seen.

By lunchtime the next afternoon, Amos and Cedric decided to go home and eat before starting their search again. That is when Cedric's concern for Lexi was pushed into the back corners of his mind because the moment he stepped into the dining room his eyes looked on one individual. A few people had returned for lunch as well, and she was facing him, while sitting on John's lap, picking bits of food out of his plate. Cedric's heart dropped to his feet. His daughter, he recognized her immediately, was sitting on the lap of the last man he ever wanted to see.

He sensed everyone's eyes on him as he stared at the little girl. She looked exactly like him, except her hair was a darker color, Lexi's color. Her eyes - his gray blue eyes - looked up at him.

He had never loved anyone so instantaneously in his entire life, and his heart swelled with pride because she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. But his heart sank again when he registered the look on her face; it was surprise mixed with confusion and fear. She was afraid of him, just as he'd feared. Kateri buried her cheek closer into John's chest, trying to hide herself from Cedric.

He felt Amos' hand on his shoulder, leading him into the kitchen, away from the scared baby.

"I'm sorry." Catherine hugged Cedric when he was out of sight of everyone in the dining room. "I didn't know you were coming back right now."

"It's fine." Cedric told his concerned parents.

As masochistic as it was, seeing as his daughter was frightened of him, all he wanted was to be near her. He quickly grabbed a plate of food and returned to the dining room. He kept shooting surreptitious glances at her, but he noticed it was pointless because it seemed Kateri couldn't peel her eyes away from him. Everytime their eyes met, a shiver of mixed emotions ran up his spine.  
Everyone was silent throughout the rest of lunch, too awkward with the unusual father-daughter relationship. That is, until George and Angelina came pack in a hurry.

"We found her." George huffed before he rounded the corner into the dining room.

The tension in the air, once so potent that everyone could feel in pressing down upon them, began to lift.

"Where is she?" Cedric found himself asking anxiously. It was partially from guilt, but mostly because of a strange mix of emotions he couldn't put a word to that surged through him.

George gritted his teeth, like he didn't want to answer. Angelina answered for him, "She's in the Princess Grace Hospital on Nottingham Place."

Cedric took a breath to steady himself as the heavy wave of guilt flooded back inside of his mind.

"I'll send a patronus to Eric and Annabelle." Amos hurried out of the room to inform the Beckhams of their daughters' location.

"We can take you to see her." Angelina offered, looking directly at Cedric.

No one else moved as Cedric nodded and left his seat. But before he could leave the room, Cedric turned back.

"Do you want to see your mother, Kateri?" he reached out his arms for her, but Kateri shrank back into John, giving him the same scared and confused look. Cedric's heart sank and he turned back around to follow George and Angelina.

It was the worst feeling he could remember experiencing, having his own flesh and blood reject him so fully. But of course she was afraid of him. He had expected that. He tried to convince himself that once Lexi came back, she could fix everything, that was assuming she still wanted anything to do with him. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't. Still, none of this made him feel any better about Kateri's rebuff.

"Daddy!" the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, a squeaky soprano that sounded like the smallest wind chime, echoed into his ears. He recognized the desperation in her voice, like she was actually longing to be with him.

Cedric immediately turned back to her. Kateri was wiggling out of John's hold, but before she could hop off his lap to run to her father, Cedric was there, arms wide open, and scooped her into his arms. Kateri's little arms secured themselves around his neck as she pressed her face into the side of his neck. He couldn't remember feeling happier.


	18. I Like Dogs II

George and Angelina lead Cedric and Kateri through the halls of Princess Grace Hospital. Cedric could feel his heart beating erratically from thinking about Lexi, but the little girl, who arms were still wound tightly around his neck, kept him balanced and controlled. He found the hospital to be cold and void of any happiness, or maybe that was just him. All around, people were being healed, granted it was the muggle way - if they only knew - but Cedric could only feel suffering from the cold walls of this hospital. Of course, he knew he had no one to blame but himself for being in this current situation.

At least he had Kateri now for comfort, and vice versa. He took comfort in knowing he could be her comforter too.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" he asked George and Angelina as they continued to lead him through the twists and turns of the halls, leading to Lexi's room.

"The doctor said she had significant hypothermia." Angelina informed him.

"I don't have a clue what that means," George added, "these muggles have the most confusing names for things."

Angelina slapped his arm, telling him to shush because a couple of nurses walked by and looked oddly at them at the mention of 'muggles'.

"The doctor said something about her body temperature being dangerously low." Angelina explained. "He told us it was so low that he was surprised she hadn't gone into cardiac arrest."

That was a term Cedric knew. He squeezed onto his daughter tighter, trying to maintain the little control he had left. The guilt was so thick inside of him that he could barely breath and was surprised that his legs were able to carry him at this point. How long had she stayed out there in the rain after he left her?

"Daddy, is Momma alright?" Kateri whispered.

Cedric didn't know what to tell her. He didn't want to scare her, but what if he told her a positive answer and then something negative happened?

Thankfully, he was spared when George and Angelina stopped in front of a door.

"We'll give you some time alone." George told him, holding the door open for Cedric, and closing it behind him when he stepped in.

Cedric looked at the woman laying on the bed. She was connected to so many tubes and wires were everywhere. She was covered in a multitude of blankets, yet the monitor by the bed still read that her body temperature was too low. What have I done to you, Lexi? he thought.

Kateri looked at her mother and gave a terrified squeak before burying her head into Cedric's shoulder. He held her tighter and smoothed the hair down her back, he couldn't blame for responding that way. Lexi was ghostly pale, almost translucent. Her hair was limp against the pillow. There was no life at all in her unconscious form. He walked over and sat in the chair next to her bed. Kateri peaked up and finally found the courage she needed. She climbed onto Lexi's bed, making sure she didn't upset any of the tubes and wires, and sat next the her mother, holding her hand in both of hers.

It was such a pitiful sight that Cedric was overcome with tears. He laid his cheek against the mattress next to Lexi and Kateri's hands, and let the tears soak into the blankets. Soon he felt a small hand on his cheek. He looked up at Kateri.

"Do you love Momma?" she asked him.

That was a question he wasn't expecting from his three year old daughter. She seemed to be very intuitive for her age. Honesty was the only approach he could take. She could handle the truth, he sensed.

"I don't know, Kateri. I want to - I really want to - but I can't remember her at all."

A pensive look came over her. Her eyebrows knitted together and her lips puckered. Cedric recognized this expression immediately because it was his own. He was struck once again with an unfathomable amount of love for her.

Then she sighed. "I think you do. You just can't see that you do." she explained. "Maybe if you kiss her, like in all the fairytales, you'll remember her."

He couldn't help but smile at her. She was much too adorable; he could only imagine how spoiled she was, and how he would spoil her even more - he knew he would.

"I hope this all ends up being a fairytale." Cedric tucked a chestnut curl behind her ear to clear it out of her face.

"Me too." she looked at her mother and her hopeful expression fell.

They were quiet for awhile, until Kateri spoke again.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes. More than anything."

She gave him a broad smile before hugging his neck again. Cedric recognized that smile, and his heart swelled. That was Lexi's smile. Even though he didn't remember the Lexi from before, he could remember the Lexi from the door painting day. She had smiled a lot that day, and he had committed that smile to memory. Now it was before him again.

"I'm sorry, Daddy." she told him in that soprano trill.

"For what?"

"For hiding from you at lunch." she explained. "I didn't know if you were real, and I was afraid you were going to leave me again."

He nearly broke down from the true fear in her voice. "I'm never leaving you again, Kateri. Trust that."

She nodded in understanding against his shoulder. "Can you tell me something?"

"Anything."

"Were all the stories Mum told me true?" her clear gray eyes pierced into him. Cedric noticed that they seemed to sparkle, an effect he had also noticed in his own mother's eyes.

"What did she tell you?"

"She told me that you fought dragons, and that you were the best quwidditch player she had ever seen, and a whole bunch of other stuff."

"Dragons?" he quickly dug through the memories he had been able to retrieve and saw his seventeen year old self transfiguring a rock into a dog while a dragon threatened to burn his face off, which it did eventually. "Oh yes, the dragon. She probably exaggerated the story though. It was nothing spectacular."

"But it's a dragon!" Kateri protested.

"Trust me, Harry's was better."

"Who's Harry?" Kateri pouted.

"Harry was one of the other competitors in the tournament. Do you know about the tournament?"

Kateri nodded.

"Well, Harry summoned his broom and flew all around his dragon…"

He went into a very detailed explanation as to what Harry Potter did with his dragon with Kateri giving him her full attention. Apparently she had never heard this story before. By the end, her lips were puckered and her brow was furrowed.

"I still like yours better."

"How?" Cedric looked at her incredulously. "He used a broom!"

"I like dogs." she argued stubbornly. Cedric had a sudden feeling of déjà vu, but that was quickly pushed aside when a doctor entered the room.

"Oh." he looked at them in surprise. "I didn't know Miss Beckham had visitors. You can stay here, I just need to check her vitals."

"Thank you." Cedric told him seriously. He noted the atmosphere in the room had changed. Kateri was back to looking sadly at her mother.

"May I ask your relationship to Miss Beckham. I am only allowed to disclose information to immediate family."

"Er, right. I'm her… husband." he said quickly. "And this is our daughter."

The doctor couldn't deny the resemblance, and had no choice but to believe him. Kateri played along by sidling closer to Lexi.

"Well Mr. Beckham," he started and Cedric didn't bother correcting him, "your wife's condition is steadily improving, which is a good thing of course."

Cedric sighed in relief. Part of the guilt dissipated at the doctor's words. He also felt another reaction when the doctor said 'your wife.' It felt good to think of Lexi as his wife - that had to be a good sign, a really good sign.

"What worries me," the doctor unfortunately continued, causing Cedric's heart to sink and the guilt to flame back up, "is her not waking up. She should have awoken by now."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that if she doesn't wake soon, she may be in a lasting coma. I'm sorry."

The doctor gave him a sympathetic look before leaving. Cedric noticed Kateri's terrified expression as she gazed down at her mother.

"She'll get better, baby." Cedric reassured her, trying to convince himself at the same time.

"How do you know?"

"Because she's strong. Your mum can make it through anything."

Kateri seemed to know this, probably better than anyone. She looked at Lexi with her pitiful eyes and took a deep breath.

"I, on the other hand, am not strong. I need her to help me." Cedric gazed at Lexi too.

"I can help you." Kateri told him.

"Thank you." Cedric picked her up from her spot on the bed and hugged her close to him. "I think it's time to go now."

Kateri nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.

--

After he put Kateri to bed, Cedric went down into the kitchen where Amos and Catherine were pouring out a pot of tea.

"Cedric?" Amos called to him as Cedric entered and rested his back against the counter. "While you were gone, a letter came for you from Minerva McGonagall."

"Hmm."

Amos handed him the letter, and Cedric unfolded it. As his eyes picked up the words on the parchment, they also grew wide with glad surprise.

"What does it say, Ced?" Catherine asked.

"McGonagall wants to know if I'd be interested in finishing out my schooling through correspondence. She said she is willing to send a private tutor given my situation."

"Cedric, that's great." Catherine congratulated.

So that was how Cedric found himself walking through the familiar corridors of Hogwarts School the following day, heading towards the Headmistress' office with Kateri in his arms. She had insisted on going everywhere with him, and, frankly, Cedric didn't mind one bit.

Minerva McGonagall was waiting for him when he knocked.

"Good morning, Mr. Diggory." she waved her hand, indicating he should take a seat.

Cedric took the offered the seat and situated Kateri on his lap. "Good morning, Professor."

"Tea?" she offered him a cup. "Or pumpkin juice?"

"No, thank you." he looked down at Kateri to see what she wanted.

"Can I have some juice, please?"

The two adults smiled at her cuteness as McGonagall passed the little girl a cup of pumpkin juice.

"So," McGonagall started, taking a seat in her high backed chair, "have you come to a decision about my proposition."

"I would like to accept." Cedric stated formally.

"Very good. We can start as soon as possible if you'd like, use the rest of this school year as a review period before you start you N.E.W.T. coursework in the fall. Your healer has told me that you are making excellent progress in remembering your previous training. He says you have already apparated?"

"I suppose." Cedric shrugged. "But, if it is alright with you, I would like to put off starting until I have dealt with the situation with Lexi Beckham."

Cedric was growing more nervous by the minute. When he checked in with the hospital that morning, Lexi wasn't making any improvement in recovering. Unconsciously, he held Kateri tighter.

"Of course, I understand." McGonagall nodded. "By all means, take as long as you deem necessary."

"Thank you for this, Professor."


	19. Pretty Into Each Other

Lexi shook out of the blackness of unconsciousness to be welcomed by bright white hospital lights. At first she had no idea where she was, but as the sudden brightness of the light faded she could make out the shapes of the

machines surrounding her bed and the tubes connected to her body. The beep from the monitor to her left indicated that her heart was functional, in the medical sense anyway.

The next sound she was aware was the opening of a door and the chatter of voices. She saw a man in a long white coat step in with a clip board, followed by two people she was so grateful to see: Amos and Catherine Diggory.

"Amos! Catherine!" her voice croaked from sickly disuse. How long had she been out?

They looked at her in disbelief for a second until understanding spread across their faces.

"Oh, Lexi." Catherine came to her side. "We were so scared you weren't waking up."

"How long have I…"

"About five days." Amos answered.

"Can I go home?" Lexi asked the doctor, who was standing at the foot of her bed. All she wanted was to see her daughter.

"I want to run a few more tests, and depending on the results you may have to stay another night for observation."

Amos rolled his eyes, and Lexi saw him surreptitiously take out his wand and flick it at the doctor.

"She's fine and can leave now." Amos told him.

The doctor looked confused before he shook his head out. "Yes. Just go to the desk and fill out her release papers and you are free to go, Miss Beckham."

"Thank you." Lexi tried to fight back the smile that was caused by Amos' use of the confundus charm.

She watched as the doctor walked out of the room, still confused. The next second, however, the doctor was pushed aside by her parents and little sister.

"Lexi! Thank Merlin you're alright." her mother bustled to her side and watched as Catherine removed the tubes and wires from Lexi's body with skilled hands. That was the good thing about having an ex-healer around. Her father was preoccupied with Ruby, who was enthralled by all the muggle technology. She was messing with one of the monitors, turning dials and pushing buttons. Lexi was thankful that her child wasn't one to misbehave. Kateri. The thought of being away from Kateri for five days sent pain through her body.

"Where's Kateri?"

She noticed the small smile that appeared on Catherine's face before Amos spoke. "She's with Cedric. He took her to the zoo today."

"Both of them," Catherine stressed 'both', "have been so worried about you. So I told them to go have some fun for a change."

"You mean…" Lexi couldn't finish her sentence because of the overwhelming feeling of relief. Cedric knew Kateri. Her daughter finally had a father.

"He's already spoiling her rotten." Catherine answered.

"I'm not so sure about this whole arrangement." Mrs. Beckham spoke up.

Lexi looked at her like she was insane. "Why? Kateri finally gets a dad. I'm not seeing how that's bad." Her old resentment for her parents immediately sparked. She could feel her cheeks growing hot in anger.

"I don't think this is very good for Kateri's psychological health."

Lexi gaped at her mother. "Her psychological health? Are you serious?"

"Why aren't you taking this seriously, Lexi?!"

"You do not have the right to talk about my daughter's psychological health when you kicked me out of the house when I was three months pregnant!"

"Lexi, I thought we patched that up. You can't keep living in the past."

"No, Mother. I can't push something like that aside and forget it never happened."

Amos and Catherine were standing on her other side, looking thoroughly awkward, while her father was still trying to keep Ruby from ruining any of the expensive hospital equipment.

"I'm sorry. Okay?!" her mother nearly yelled at her. "But why can't you ever look at it from our perspective? I did not want my daughter to throw away her life because of a fling she had for two months! You cannot just decide you are ready to spend the rest of your life devoted to one person after two months!"

"Cedric was not a fling." Lexi growled through her teeth.

"If I may say," Catherine started in her calm, soft voice, "Cedric is recovering quite well, and with a little more exposure to Lexi, I think he'll be able to get his memory back."

"It's only two months, Catherine! How could you have encouraged them the way you did? He completely ruined her life."

"If you must know," Catherine said in the most acidic voice Lexi had ever heard her use, "Amos and I were married after only three months of courtship. And I would appreciate it if you could stop talking about my son that way."

"Are we interrupting something?" a female voice called from the door.

Lexi looked over to see Bree standing in the door way with Nick behind her. "Bree!"

Bree smiled and went to hug her best friend. "How do you get yourself into these situations, Lex?" she teased.

"Because she's head strong and naïve." her mother answered for her.

Lexi glared at her. "You can go now, mother."

"Fine." she huffed and looked to her husband. "Come on, Eric. Clearly we are not wanted here."

Lexi hugged her father before he walked out of the room. Her mother turned back to her before she left. "Just so you know, Lex, everything I did, I did because I love you and I want what's best for you."

Lexi sighed. "I know, Mum. For once you just didn't know what was best."

"Good bye, Lexi. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Mum."

It wasn't until her family left that she realized how unusually quiet Amos was being, and how Catherine still wore a scowl on her face.

"Calm down, Catherine." Lexi joked.

Catherine gave a light chuckle. "I don't know why but your mother has never brought out the best in me."

"Are you ready to get out of this place, love?" Bree squeezed her hand.

"You have no idea." Lexi laughed before turning to the Diggory's. "Actually I was wondering if I could hang out at your place until Cedric comes back. We need to talk."

"Yes. That would be fine." Amos said.

"Why don't you go back, and Amos and I will go do something to give you two some privacy."

Catherine was always so thoughtful. That was how Lexi found herself on the Diggory's couch an hour later, after taking a rain check on catching up with Bree and Nick. She was alone, Cedric and Kateri had not returned yet. It didn't take her long to notice that the house seemed to have a new cheer in it now that Cedric was back. Maybe the same cheer and happiness could return to her life now as well. Catherine had said that Cedric was worried about her, and he had accepted Kateri, which had to mean that he certainly didn't hate her.

She was going to find out quickly because she heard the door opening and Kateri giggling. It was such a welcome sound, to hear her daughter truly laugh; she hadn't heard that sound in such a long time.

Cedric walked into the room where Lexi was seated, with Kateri on his shoulders. When he saw Lexi stand, he stopped, just staring at her.

"Lexi."

She couldn't decipher what he meant by that. Was he surprised? Pleased? She couldn't tell.

"Momma!" Kateri cried in excitement. Cedric lifted her off his shoulders and placed her on the floor, where she immediately took off and threw herself into Lexi's arms.

"I missed you, baby girl." Lexi hugged her as tight as she could.

Kateri seemed to sense the tension between her parents as she looked between them. She faked a yawn. "Momma, I'm tired."

Lexi smiled to herself, knowing exactly what she was doing. She took Kateri upstairs to the guest bedroom. She was happy to find Cedric following her. The two of them tucked Kateri into the bed and closed the door, looking awkwardly at each other.

"I'm glad to see that you and Kateri are getting along so well." Lexi said conversationally.

Cedric smiled and looked down at the floor. But then his eyes met hers again.

"Can you tell me something?" he asked her, intensity in his voice.

Lexi nodded and he took her hand, leading her into his bedroom. They sat on his bed, and Cedric pulled the box of pictures onto his lap. Lexi immediately spotted something bright red at the bottom.

"Oh my God." she could feel the heat emitting from her face. Cedric chuckled and picked up her old red panties, dangling them on one finger.

"Clearly we were pretty into each other."

"That's one way of putting it." she muttered sarcastically, and they both laughed.

"So what is it you need my help with?" she reminded him.

"I…" he paused to consider what to say. "I think I need you… to help me find my memories. I thought we could start with these pictures. Maybe you could tell me about them?"

Lexi took a deep breath and picked up the small stack of pictures. She flipped through them quickly.

"Well," she stopped on the one of Cedric and Cho at the Yule Ball, "I can't help you with this one. I wasn't there."

"I remember that one vaguely anyway. It's okay."

Lexi gaped at him, and Cedric was slightly taken aback by her expression. "What?"

"How can you remember Cho, but not me?"

Cedric chuckled at her jealousy. "Trust me, I wish it was the other way around."

* * *

A/N: I am SOOOOO sorry its taken so long to get this chapter out. i've been inspirationless for too long. hopefully you'll forgive me and review :) i promise i'll get the next chapter out soon, in fact im starting it as soon as i get this one posted. the next chapter will be 1000 times better than this one. promise


	20. Memories

_"I have no idea." Nick informed the stunned group. It was late May and Professor Vector had given them the homework assignment from hell - even Nick, king of Arithmancy, was stumped._

_"Hope it's not on the exam." Lucille Richards, one of the other Hufflepuff members of the study group, spoke from where she was laying morosely on the floor, flipping through her book with a vain hope._

_Lexi heard Cedric chuckle lightly under his breath. She shot him a glare. "Shut up."_

_"What?" he asked her, amused. "I didn't say anything."_

_"We all know you don't have to take the exam, but you don't have to rub it in either." she slapped him on his arm._

_"I second that." Nick added, looking at Cedric grimly._

_"Hey. Isn't this the answer." Bree, who hadn't previously been paying attention, nudged Nick in the side._

_Nick looked at his book at the spot where Bree was pointing, and then turned to gape at her. "How'd you find that?"_

_"It was just there." Bree shrugged. Lexi rolled her eyes at her best friend. Bree wasn't even in Arithmancy; she only came to the study group on Thursday nights, which was the night designated for Arithmancy, so she could be with Nick._

_"See, this is why you're amazing." Nick slung and arm around her and pulled her closer into his side. Nick and Bree were not at the 'I love you' stage of their relationship, even though everyone knew they should be. Lexi and Cedric had been telling Bree and Nick, respectively, to say those three small words to the other, but neither had taken the advice as of yet._

_"Okay, stop being all lovey-dovey and tell us what page you're looking at." Lucille snapped._

_Nick turned red in the face. "Oh… er… page 594."_

_Lexi felt Cedric's arm snake around her waist, and she looked up into his grey blue eyes. He raised his eyebrows, as if waiting for her to do something. Lexi stared at him in confusion until he nodded down toward the book. Lexi crossed her arms and frowned at him._

_"You're the one who has to take the exam, Lex." he started laughing at her._

_Pouting, Lexi flipped to the right page. "You suck."_

_"Hey, I had to battle a dragon. I think you can live with flipping a few pages."_

_"You'll never drop that excuse, will you?"_

_"Probably not." Cedric kissed the side of her head._

_A few minutes later, the room was cleared out as everyone headed off to their respective common rooms. Cedric and Lexi, however, remained in the room, and were already making out like there was no tomorrow, as per usual._

_Just another night with the group._

---

Lexi looked one last time at the picture of the study group in their special third floor classroom, and smiled. It was the simple moments that made her happiest. She would trade anything to have those moments back, instead of the dramatic and painful moments that hadn't stopped occurring since Cedric's death.

"Do you remember these people?" she handed the picture to Cedric for him to further speculate.

" I remember Nick, of course." Cedric's mouth went into a crooked smile. "He's been my best mate since day one at Hogwarts. And I remember Lucille. We had a sort of fling at the beginning of our fifth year."

"You what?" Lexi looked at him in shock.

"Did I never tell you about that?"

"Obviously not. Would you care to elaborate?!"

Cedric gave her an apologetic look. "Maybe now isn't the best time."

"No. I think now is a perfect time."

"Lex, it wasn't a big deal. Will you calm down?"

He really looked like he wanted to drop it. Lexi took a calming breath and flipped to the next picture. Although her curiosity was raging, she would do anything for him.

"Promise it wasn't a big deal?" she asked before delving into the new photo's story.

"I swear it."

"Alright. Next picture."

---  
_  
"There is no way I'm getting in there." Lexi glanced at the bank of the Black Lake._

_Cedric was dressed in only his swimming trunks, and Lexi was much more inclined to look at him._

_"Yes you are." Cedric grinned at her, pulling her towards the water with the arm wrapped firmly around her waist._

_"It's freezing!" she whined, struggling vainly against his grasp. It was useless. Cedric swept her off her feet and carried her out into the water. There was nothing Lexi could do to stop him._

_"Cedric! Don't even think about -" but her words were cut off when Cedric did the very thing she was dreading. He dropped her into the freezing cold water, diving in after her; after all, he did play relatively fairly._

_Lexi flailed under the water until her hands met Cedric's body, to which she grabbed and used to make her way back to the surface. Cedric's head broke the surface the same time hers did, except he was laughing, as opposed to her glare. Lexi promptly splashed him with water, not that the revenge was sufficient._

_Cedric, unable to stop laughing, grabbed her and pulled her into his chest before she could protest further._

_"I told you it would be fun." he told her with a snarky grin._

_"Sometimes I really don't like you." she crossed her arms against her chest, not seeing the point of struggling against his hold._

_"That's because you always love me."_

_Despite her annoyance towards him, Lexi was even more disappointed when Cedric's arms disappeared from around her as he walked back to shore._

_He answered her curious expression. "I have a surprise."_

_Cedric dug into his bag and pulled out two bundles of what looked like slimy worms._

_"Is that gillyweed?" Lexi looked at him in disbelief. The only person in Hogwarts with a stash of gillyweed was Professor Snape, and that stash was off limits to students. "You didn't steal those, did you?"_

_"I'm glad you think so highly of me, Lex." Cedric rolled his eyes as he made his way back over to her. "Nick's aunt is a Mediterranean herbologist. She works with gillyweed all the time, so I asked him if he could get some for me."_

_"You can't expect me to eat that."_

_"I remember you saying something similar about getting in the water, and look at you now." he grinned crookedly, handing her one of the slimy bundles. "If I have to eat it, you have to eat it."_

_"You don't have to eat it." she told him, a seductive smile appearing on her face. "We could always get out of this freezing cold water and spend a perfect day sun bathing. You know, I'm not a big fan of tan lines…" she slipped one of the straps of her bikini bathing suit off her shoulder to prove her point._

_Her point was definitely proven. Cedric had a very hard time forming comprehensible speech. He finally managed to get his eyes off her chest and back on her eyes, only to cast her a glare and shove the gillyweed in her mouth unceremoniously. Lexi choked, and could do nothing but chew the wad of sliminess. Cedric chewed on his too, almost spitting it out from laughter when he saw Lexi's face turn slightly green._

_It was the weirdest feeling. The sliminess was soon replaced by suffocation. Lexi looked down at her hands, and was momentarily freaked out by the webbing that had formed between her fingers. She looked at Cedric and saw a similar expression of awe as he looked at her. But soon the lack of oxygen became too much, and Lexi felt herself choking yet again. Cedric reacted quickly and pushed her head into the water, going down with her. The relief was instantaneous, and once they both had their bearings back, Lexi lifted her hand to feel the gills that had formed at her throat. Creepy._

_Cedric took her hand and pushed away from the shallows, drawing her into deeper water. _

---

"Gills are actually becoming on you." Cedric commented, looking at the picture of the two of them underwater.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Even with amnesia, you're still capable of insulting me."

"That was a compliment! Not a lot of people can pull off gills, but you can."

"I guess I should say thank you."

Cedric chuckled at her. "Were we always like this?"

"Like what?"

"Did we always fight? Throw around playful banter and such?"

"Let's put it this way. I'm 99.9% positive that Kateri was conceived during makeup sex."

Lexi saw Cedric's cheeks turn lightly red, and she giggled at his reaction.

"Moving on." Cedric thrust the next picture into her hands.

Lexi looked at him with an amused expression. "Wait. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?"

"Not really." Cedric shrugged, trying to pull off nonchalance, but the reddening of his cheeks gave him away yet again. "Kind of." he finally admitted. "It makes me have inappropriate thoughts about you right now."

"Oh." that wasn't the answer she had been expecting. But she supposed it was a very good thing that he was thinking about her in a sexual way, a sign of improvement.

"Continuing?" Cedric pointed to the picture in her hands. It showed the two of them sleeping, nestled into one of the big fluffy armchairs in the Hufflepuff common room.

Lexi smiled up at him. "Continuing."

---

_"You okay?" Cedric asked her, rubbing his hand up and down the length of her arm before saying the password. The still life painting that marked the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room swung open._

_Lexi felt the chills run up her spine at his gentle touch. "No."_

_Cedric lead her into the comfortable looking common room, decked out in black and yellow. He picked a plush black chair in front of the fire to occupy, and pulled Lexi onto his lap._

_"What's wrong?"_

_"You really have to ask?" she leaned further into him. "It's three days away."_

_"I thought we agreed not to think about the competition until it's over."_

_"How can I not think about it, Cedric? I can't stop worrying no matter how much I try."_

_"What could possibly happen, Lex? Dumbledore is taking every possible precaution."_

_"I don't know." she admitted. "You could be stung by one of Hagrid's skrewts? You haven't seen them. They're huge!"_

_"If a skrewt is the worst of my worries, I think I'm going to be fine." Cedric chuckled, trying to lighten the mood._

_"I guess…"_

_"See? Nothing to worry about." even so, he held her tighter._

_"I just have this feeling." Lexi looked up into his gray eyes. She loved the color more than any other color in the world. Except the flames from the fire were casting a golden glow on them, throwing off the normally clear gray. She didn't like it. "Please don't do anything stupid."_

_"Lexi," Cedric sighed, "You know me -"_

_"I know. And you're too noble for your own good." Lexi wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him so that her cheek was against his and her mouth was by his ear. "I don't care if you win or not. Don't try to prove anything to me. I love you no matter what."_

_"Lexi …"_

_"Oh, Merlin." they heard Nick drawl as he entered the common room. "Get a room!"_

_Cedric and Lexi looked up at the interrupter._

_"You know, the room we would get is the same room you would sleep in, so I suggest you rethink that request." Cedric teased._

_"Alright then. Sleep out here, suckers." Nick raced off toward the dormitory, and they knew he was probably going to lock the door behind him. _

---

Cedric looked at the picture again, noticing how perfectly they fit together into the chair made for one. He then looked down at Lexi, and noticed tears streaking down he face.

"Lex?"

"You didn't listen to me." she whispered.

"What?"

"I told you I didn't care if you won. I told you not to do anything stupid. Why'd you have to take the cup with Harry?"

Cedric opened his mouth to reply, but there were no words. What could he say? He had no idea what to do. How could he comfort a woman who loved him more than anything in the world when he still couldn't remember her?

He may not have remembered her, but that didn't negate the attraction, the pull he felt towards her.

Without a second thought, he did the one thing that he had been dying to do since the day he met her… the second time. Cedric put his hands on either side of Lexi's face, wiping away the tears with his thumbs, and he kissed her.

* * *

A/N: I'M SORRY!!! I know I promised that I would get this chapter out faster, but in my defense, I did start writing it the minute I posted the previous chapter, like I promised. The problem was I got stuck on the second memory. I had no idea what the last 2 memories were going to be, but I got a flash of enlightenment yesterday, and this is the product :)

I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter, and as always, REVIEW!! LOVE YOU!!!

There should be about 2 more chapters until the end, maybe 3, and then an epilogue. My next project will probably be delving into the Twilight universe with a look at Kate and Garrett from Breaking Dawn. Or I will return to write Cho's story. Either way, they will be both get written.


	21. Life Line

Lexi had been haunted by Cedric's kisses since his death. She had yearned for them more than anything else; the comfort, the compassion, the love that each one held were things that she would have given anything to feel again. And now she was. Cedric was kissing her and she basked in the love that she felt for him, sending it through her lips to him.

It was probably wrong to kiss him when he could hardly remember her, but he had initiated it and it felt like he was about as disinclined to part as she was. She still, however, had to keep herself in check because inappropriate thoughts were running through her head, wanting to be with him in the most intimate way possible. But that wouldn't be fair to Cedric. She wanted to share the feeling with him, and she couldn't if he was incapable of feeling the exact same thing she was. It was a one sided love, but the familiarity between their lips made it seem otherwise.

Abruptly, Cedric's lips stopped moving, and Lexi knew something was wrong. Not a moment before they had been grabbing hers with as much fervor as she was, but it stopped. Had he decided this was wrong, or that he didn't want her?

She barely had time to compute this when she felt Cedric's body weight start to fall into her. Something was definitely wrong. Lexi looked up into his face and saw ghostly whiteness. His eyes were blank and he honestly looked lifeless. A wave of the most powerful panic she had ever experienced crashed down on her along with his body. Lexi barely had time to get a better hold on him before Cedric's body started shaking, flailing to the ground, bringing Lexi with it. Their bodies hit the ground with a loud thump, and Lexi was thankful that she had landed on top, otherwise Cedric's body would have incapacitated her.

She finally found breath enough to cry out, "Cedric!"

Lexi, with tears beginning to stream down her face, hauled his shaking body to a more open area on the floor so that he wouldn't hit anything. She kept his head stable from bucking and smacking itself against the floor. Her adrenaline was in full force, and she knew it was the only thing she was working off of. Cedric kept seizing, and Lexi couldn't do anything now but hold him and cry.

Praying that he would come around, Lexi knew that she could not live if he left her again. The pain of his death had left unbearable scars that would break open again if he left. She couldn't do it, not again. Kateri had kept her here the first time, but the pain of him returning and then leaving again would be way too much for her handle. Even if he woke up but his memory was gone again, she wouldn't be able to handle it. Lexi was positive she would end up in St. Mungo's if that be the case. He had to come back to her. That was the only option.

After what felt like hours, but must have only been minutes, Cedric fell limp on the floor. There was cold sweat running down his paled face, but his body was burning up. A fever; he was fighting whatever it was that happened. Hope surged through her body, but it didn't last long.

With tears streaming down her face, Lexi summoned a cold damp cloth and wiped the sweat out of his face, and wrapped him in blankets on the floor - he was much too big for her to lift him onto the bed. Then she lay down with him, right next to him, stroking his cheeks, forehead, hair.

"I love you. Come back. Please, come back." she chanted in a whisper into his ear.

Her own ear was pressed against his chest, where she could hear the faint, quick thuds of his heart. The beats were her life line; if they ended, so would she. She could see the shallow rising and falling of his chest, indicating his breathing, another life line. A part of her thought about going to find Amos and Catherine, but the selfish part of her blocked that part out, not wanting to leave him for a second. Besides, she wasn't capable of magic at that moment, and she didn't want Amos or Catherine, and especially Kateri, to see Cedric like this. It would be her burden.

A few hours must have passed before Lexi heard Amos and Catherine come back home. She got to her feet shakily and locked the door, putting a password on it so that no one could walk in on them.

As she turned back to Cedric after locking the door, however, all thoughts disappeared. Cedric's mouth was opening and closing, and scratchy noises were issuing from his throat, nearly scaring Lexi to death for more than one reason.

"Cedric?" she asked hesitantly, knowing this was the moment of truth. The one that would decide her fate.

It was the scariest moment of her life. Suddenly Cedric started gasping for breath, sitting bolt up right, looking around, searching.

"Lexi!" he screamed. "Lexi! Lex!!"

Lexi quickly cast a silencing charm on the door before anyone else in the house could hear his outburst. He was still shouting her name.

"Cedric," she walked quickly, yet cautiously, over to him, "Cedric, I'm right here."

His eyes locked with hers, and his heavy breathing began to subside.

"Lex." it was more of a whisper as he scrambled to his knees to get closer to her. His arms outstretched for her, and Lexi willingly went into them. She could hear the intense speed of his heart raising. "There was so much green, Lex."

He was describing his death, and Lexi knew, felt, that it was him. Completely him, with his memory. He came back. Lexi wound her arms around him and kept him as close as possible as he talked.

"It was coming right at me, and then I felt warmth and peace. And there were voices. A tiny little voice and your voice. I know it was your voice. You asked me to let you go. I didn't want to, and it hurt so bad, but I did. I wiped you clean from me, giving back everything that I had taken from you. But you're back, and I have you. I love you, Lexi. I love you so much."

Her heart overflowed, she was so happy to hear those words. It overflowed from her lips in bursts of giggles, and her hands as she grasped every part of him that she could touch, brushing his lips with her own. And he grabbed her too, pulling her even closer to hold the kiss - that long awaited and yearned for kiss.

She never wanted to break away from him. Not ever. But she had to. There were too many questions that needed to be asked.

"What happened, Lex? I don't understand." he stammered as he let Lexi lead him back to his bed. They laid together, nestling under the warmth of the sheets. "There was so much green, and I was so sure I was gone."

"Oh, Cedric," she held him closer, "do you remember anything that happened before the green flash?"

"Yes. Everything."

"And after?"

"Nothing. Only voices."

He didn't remember Kateri. Lexi's heart sank, but with the hope that he could still love his daughter as much as he did before, she was able to stay calm.

"Did I die?" he asked suddenly.

There was no point in lying to him. "Yes."

"How long has it been?"

"Almost four years."

She heard his sharp intake of breath, and felt him shake as he let it out. Then he tried to untangle himself from her and the sheets, confusing her, making her hold on tighter.

"You moved on." he explained his reaction. "You asked me to let you move on, and you did."

"No, Cedric. I didn't, I couldn't. I tried to, but it was… impossible." she tried to explain to him, pulling him back down to her as he tried to sit up. He listened and rested back down against her.

"You have moved on. Things happened, and it's not the same."

Lexi wanted to cry. It sounded like he was finding excuses to flee, to leave this sudden change, this jolt into a new reality. After everything that happened, she would not allow him to do that.

"I haven't changed. I'm the same girl you fell in love with, and I'm the same girl who loves you still, four years later."

Cedric released a sigh that he seemed to be holding in, waiting for her to say those words. He held her tighter against him, and flipped Lexi onto her back so that he could hover over her.

"I don't want to hear about all the changes and the new complications right now. Right now I want you. We can deal with everything else after."

"Cedric, there is one really big change that you need to know about…"

"Are you married now?"

"No!"

"Then it can wait until after."

Lexi nodded quickly and Cedric soon claimed her lips.

It was a familiar movement, the two of them becoming one. Their bodies knew each other, and remembered the pattern like no time had passed at all. Cedric moved them slowly, deeply, savoring each moment. It felt amplified, overpowering, because of the tension of waiting so long for something that was already so good. She let him take control over her, consuming every atom of her being. Soon enough, she couldn't breath… or be conscious of anything besides him.

She soon found out that Cedric had not lost any of his quidditch reflexes. One second she was on her back with Cedric on top of her, and the next second Cedric whipped her onto her side so fast that he rammed further into her, jolting an insanely sweet pressure point. Needless to say, she was out of her senses after that, so she didn't see the look of frightened surprise on Cedric's face or what had caused it.

"Lexi, stop it. Shh." he was rubbing up and down her back soothingly, but his voice was anxious. It was only then that she heard herself giving out a writhing moan.

Then a voice she couldn't connect with the current situation fill her ears. "Cedric!"

Her brain may have been working slow, but it still put the pieces together. Amos' voice, Cedric's anxiety, his sudden movement… to conceal her bare chest from his father. Oh Merlin's beard.

* * *

A/N: DON'T KILL ME!!! lol, i probably deserve it, but hopefully this makes up for the insanely long wait. It is pretty disney, isn't it? but yeah, if it's not broke, don't fix it! really, you should have seen how the original version brought Cedric back. that was pretty out there. at least this one makes sense, in its own way.

Good news is we're on the home stretch! There's probably 1 more chapter left, maybe 2, and an epilogue.

Review please!!! i'd love to hear what you think.


	22. Reawakening

Mortified. That was the only way to describe it.

Lexi was speechless as Cedric held her tight against his chest. Her back was to the door, so she couldn't see Amos standing in the doorway, but she could see Cedric's stunned expression, and she could certainly feel the nervous tension in the room. She closed her eyes and dug her face into Cedric's shoulder, trying to hide from Amos' stare. At the very least, she was able to concentrate better and wasn't moaning like a fool.

"I… ummm… I - I - I guess I'll close this." Amos stammered before shutting the door sharply.

After one more tense moment, Cedric loosened and rolled onto his back, shifting Lexi with him.

"That is not how I thought I would be reunited with my father." he told her, a hint of tease in his words that told her he wasn't upset.

"I am so sorry, Cedric." Lexi breathed. "I thought I had locked the door, but I guess I was too weak after what happened to you that the spell didn't go on properly."

"What _did_ happen to me?" he questioned, curiously.

Lexi heaved herself up onto her elbows to look into his face. She decided to ignore his question; she couldn't answer it without the full story. "I should probably go talk to them before they get the wrong idea."

"My mood's ruined anyway." he said while reaching over the side of the bed to pick up their clothes.

As she watched Cedric put his clothes back on, a thought occurred to her.

"Cedric," she stopped him from putting his shirt back on, "I think you should stay in here and let me go talk to them alone."

"Why. We're in this together, Lex."

"I know, but there are things outside that door that have changed drastically and I need to give those changes fair warning."

He gave her a wary glance, and she hated herself for having to keep him in the dark about Kateri… again.

"I promise I'll tell you everything as soon as I get back. It won't take long." she assured him. He sighed in resignation and nodded.

Lexi found Catherine and Amos in the living room playing with Kateri. Amos was sitting on the couch, awkwardly silent as he watched his wife playing with his granddaughter on the floor. They all looked up at Lexi when she entered.

"Catherine? Amos? Can I speak with you for a moment? In the office."

Amos' office was the only room in the house that was always kept on a silencing charm. That was the place to have secret or important conversations you don't want anyone to eavesdrop on. Which was why it didn't come as a surprise that Amos and Catherine both gave her odd glances before heading to the office.

"Where's Daddy?" Kateri asked, saddened that her playmates had left.

"Umm, he's napping, baby girl. You tired him out today." Lexi lied quickly, adding some tease in her voice to make it sound real. It would not be good for her to walk in on Cedric in his current state of mind. "Why don't you stay here and play with your dolls. We'll be right back."

Kateri nodded happily and went back to her previous activity.

"What is this about? Is Cedric okay?" Catherine asked worriedly when Lexi shut the door behind her.

"Cedric is fine, but something happened to him while you two were out." she prompted.

Amos' awkwardness disappeared as realization came over him, the scene he had walked in on finally making sense. "He's back, isn't he? The old Cedric."

Catherine looked quickly at her husband and then at Lexi for conformation, which she gave in the form of a nod. Catherine nearly exploded with joy.

"Oh, Merlin!" she clasped her hands together and was practically jumping up and down like a five year old. She leapt toward Lexi and threw her significantly taller form onto her for a hug. "This is wonderful, Lexi! Now you two can get married and it'll be like nothing ever happened!"

"Catherine, there's still a major problem." Lexi said after Catherine let go.

"What?! What do you mean, a problem?!" all of Catherine's joy flew away from her.

"He remembers everything before his death, but nothing since then. The past few weeks are nonexistent to him. He has no idea that Kateri exists."

Both Amos and Catherine sobered at that. Their anxieties were mollified, but the joy didn't return. Kateri had been so happy to have her father around, but now… She didn't deserve this.

"Tell her." Amos spoke up, breaking all of them out of their thoughts. "It will do her no good to not know and find out the way she did last time."

"What happened last time?" Lexi asked. After all, she had been unconscious in a hospital at the time.

"Cedric walked in on Kateri, and caught her by surprise. She was frightened of him at first."

"This is a mess." Lexi groaned before leaving the office to find Kateri.

She was still playing with her dolls when Lexi walked into the living room.

"Kateri, baby, I need to tell you something." Lexi picked her up off the floor and into her lap, sitting on the sofa.

"I missed you, Momma." Kateri smiled, hugging Lexi around the neck. "I wish you could have come to the zoo with me and Daddy. It was so much fun. Daddy bought me a new toy."

She gushed about all the cute animals she saw and how Cedric let her sit on his shoulders while she ate a muggle treat called cotton candy. Lexi didn't have the heart to stop her.

"What's you need to tell me?" Kateri asked after she finished her story.

Lexi really didn't want to say the truth and ruin her daughter's new found happiness. But she knew she had to. Hopefully Kateri, with her buoyant youth, would be able to bounce back quickly.

"You know Daddy loves you very much." she started. Kateri nodded, smiling. "Well, remember how Daddy didn't know who I was when he first came back, but he knew you?"

Kateri nodded again.

"Something happened while you were upstairs napping."

Kateri's happy smile vanished and was replaced with worry. "Is Daddy okay?"

"Daddy is okay, baby, but it seems his memory has flip flopped."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he remembers me now… but he doesn't remember you."

Her face fell. It was so pitiful, Lexi almost told her it was all a joke. She couldn't stand it when her daughter's eyes welled up with tears, and it was even worse when those tears boiled over. Lexi held onto her, pressing her into her chest, nearly crying herself.

"I promise," she kissed the top of Kateri's hair, "that I will do everything in my power to get him back for you, baby. I promise. You know he loves you."

That was when she saw Catherine and Amos standing in the doorway, watching. Lexi looked to them for help. They came immediately to take Kateri and soothe her, while Lexi went back up to Cedric.

His stance hadn't changed much since she'd left. He was sitting, still shirtless, up in bed with his arms nonchalantly draped over his pulled up knees. When Lexi entered the room, he opened up his arms for her, and she went to him graciously, wanting desperately to cry.

Apparently, it showed. "I'll hold, you cry," he told her, tucking her head under his chin. So she did. Lexi cried against his chest, and she felt so much better with his hands running down her back, tangling in her hair. He always did have a magic touch.

"Were my parents shocked? What did my Dad say?" Cedric asked after she quieted down.

"They're happy to have you back. Catherine jumped me when I told her." she felt him shake with a light laugh. "Amos didn't say much."

"That's never a good sign."

"He's fine now. I think he was still in shock from the previous incident."

"Tell me what happened, Lex. What have you been doing these last four years?"

She sighed before diving into the story, deciding to leave out Kateri until the end. "I actually lived here, in this room, for about a year after."

"Really? After meeting my parents once?"

"Yes. My parents kicked me out, and Catherine offered me a room. You really do have the best parents."

"Wow. I knew you had a secret naughty side, Lex. But what could you have done to merit that?" he made it sound like a joke.

Lexi shrugged, deciding to treat it as a rhetorical question, rather than answer it. "I took a year off of school because I couldn't bring myself to step in that building after everything that happened. And Dumbledore allowed me to continue my studies by correspondence the next year."

"Oh, bollocks. I need to finish my seventh year, don't I?"

"Don't worry about that." Lexi told him. "McGonagall has it all worked out so you can finish by correspondence as well."

"That's good to know." he nodded. "What happened after you finished school?"

"Well, I was actually working part time in Diagon Alley while I was doing school. George Weasley offered me a position at his shop. Fred died in the war, by the way, but that was after I left to work for Gringotts."

"War?"

It was time to talk about his death. Lexi took a deep breath before continuing. "Cedric, the night you died You-Know-Who came back. It was in the graveyard. He used Harry's blood…"

It was like a huge veil was lifted from in front of him, and Lexi saw in his expression as realization came. "He wanted Harry. That's why he made the cup into a portkey to the graveyard?"

"Yes. He had a spy in Hogwarts that year, who pretended to be Professor Moody."

"Moody was always helping Harry, and he's the one who helped me figure out the egg for the second task. Do you remember when he approached me after one of our study sessions before Christmas break? I remember you were with me when we ran into him. That's when he told me."

Lexi did remember that, and she felt anger rise up inside of her. If it wasn't for that man, the past four years could have been drastically different.

"What happened after? When You-Know-Who returned?"

"I don't really know. He kept low for a long time, and Amos said the Ministry was denying all claims that he was back, but he quit working at the Ministry after they declared your death to be an accident. It was a bad time, but I stayed oblivious to most of it because I kept myself locked up in this house.

"But the Ministry finally recognized his return when there was some mess with Harry and You-Know-Who down in the Department of Mysteries about a year after you died."

"Harry Potter." Cedric remarked. "And you always said I was too noble for my own good. He was way worse than me."

"It's true. But he was destined to save the world, and that he did."

Cedric gave her a curious glance, so she continued quickly. "About a year after the incident at the Ministry, Dumbledore was killed at Hogwarts when some Death Eaters attacked the school."

"Dumbledore's dead?" Cedric asked incredulously.

"Yes. It was terrible. He had helped me through a lot that year, being so understanding about the whole situation."

"I can't believe that. Dumbledore." he shook his head, not wanting to believe it. He automatically pulled Lexi against him. It made him feel safe, knowing she was safe with him.

"Things went from bad to worse after that. Harry disappeared for the longest time a couple months after Dumbledore's death, and he didn't reappear on the scene until about a year after. I was there actually. I had been working for Gringotts for a few months, after finishing my N.E.. It was a boring desk job, but it put food on the table and paid the rent - I had moved to London by that point. Then, out of the blue on a regular May afternoon, we hear like a multitude of explosions, and it felt like there was an earthquake. Everyone is in a panic, and come to find out Harry, Ron, and Hermione had broken into the Gringotts' vaults, one of the highly secured vaults protected by a dragon. They used the dragon to get out, and it destroyed the front marble hall in the process."

"Where were you?" Cedric asked anxiously, his arms tensing around her.

"I was farther back in the building, no where near the hall."

"That's good." he relaxed.

"Not long after, it was reported that Hogwarts had become a war zone, and Harry killed You-Know-Who. That was almost eleven months ago."

"I'm glad you decided to become a hermit during that time." Cedric kissed her temple.

"I didn't mean to be a hermit. If I had known what was going on I would have been there. George and Fred both fought at Hogwarts, but I lost contact with them when I … umm, didn't return. I got too busy. Sometimes I wish I had been there… to see You-Know-Who go down with my own eyes. A vindictive pleasure, I guess."

"I don't like how your vindictive pleasure's could potentially get you killed. Please don't ever act on them." he requested, sighing before continuing. "Is that the major change you were talking about?"

"No." Lexi shook her head against his chest, not wanting to look him in the eye.

"Okay. Tell me what happened in the past eleven months."

"I worked my way up in Gringotts, and about two months ago I finally got a break. Since the war at Hogwarts, the school has been suffering, obviously. McGonagall requested me and John to be personal consultants for the school."

"Tell me about this John character." Cedric sounded nonchalant in his request, but he didn't fool Lexi one bit.

"John was good to me. He saw how hard it was for me to be at Hogwarts, and he gave me a shoulder to cry on."

"He's the one, isn't he? The one you wanted to be with when you asked me to let you go."

"I thought I could love him. He was crazy about me and…" Lexi paused.

"And?"

"Cedric, I can't keep beating around the bush. There's been only one major change, but it happened when you were still alive. I hid it from you then because I thought it would be better for you that way."

His arms loosened from around her so that he could turn her body to face him. His eyes were piercing straight into her, and it made her nervous. "Lex, what are you talking about?"

"I was pregnant, Cedric."

Cedric just stared at her, his mouth falling open a fraction of an inch. "What?"


	23. We Can Do Anything

_"I was pregnant, Cedric."_

_Cedric just stared at her, his mouth falling open a fraction of an inch. "What?"_

"I didn't find out for sure that I was until after you… you know, but I was pretty sure that I was. I didn't want to go to Madame Pomfrey because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep it from you if I knew the answer."

"I knew you were hiding something. But something that big, Lex?" he shook his head at her, his voice slowly raising. "You should have told me!"

"I'm sorry, Cedric."

"Why didn't you?" his voice was so full of disappointment that Lexi felt tears spring to her eyes.

"You were under so much stress already with the tournament. I was going to tell you right after you got out of the maze. I did what I thought was best."

Cedric ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "You should have told me, Lex. I would have dropped out of the tournament if you had, and I would have been there for you."

"That's a lie, Cedric, and you know it. You were never about to drop out."

"Yes, I was!" he practically yelled, startling her so much that she backed away from him. "After you told me about that dream you had, or rather the premonition, I was scared to death, and there were multiple occasions while I was in the maze that I thought about sending up those red sparks to eliminate myself. I would have done it if you told me we were going to have a baby!"

So much guilt and regret came upon her that she burst into tears. It wasn't like her to do that, but after this long and stressful day, it was time to release.

"Lexi. Don't cry, love." Cedric's voice was more gentle than before. She must have freaked him out with all the sudden waterworks - she had never cried this bad when they were together. Slowly she felt his hands going around her and pulling her into his chest. She had cried there before, but this time was different because it was because of him that she was crying now. That had never happened before.

"Did you… umm, did you have the baby?"

"Of course." Lexi nodded, wiping her eyes. "She's downstairs with your parents right now."

"What's her name?"

"Kateri Elizabeth Diggory."

"Kateri? That's my grandmother's name. I always did like her name."

"I know."

They were quiet for a while, as Cedric raked his fingers through Lexi's hair, trying his best to come to terms with the news. There was no question about whether or not he wanted to be in the girl's life or love her. He already did; he loved anything that Lexi gave him. The problem was that he already missed three years of her life. What would she think of him?

"She loves you, you know." Lexi told him, like she was reading his mind. "You don't remember this, but you brought her to the zoo this morning, and she was so happy. I haven't seen her this way in a really long time."

"How long have I been here… not knowing you?"

"A few weeks."

"I wish I could have been there. I mean the past four years. To see her growing up. I've already missed so much."

They were silent for a moment until Lexi gasped, and at first Cedric thought something was wrong, but her face was smiling like she just thought of something.

"Wait right here. Let me go get something." jumping off the bed, Lexi ran out of the room, leaving Cedric alone with his thoughts. He wanted so much to walk down the stairs just to see what his three year old daughter looked like.

Lexi came back in, holding a thick book. It had pictures of bears and polka-dots all over the front, and was bordered in lace. A baby book, clearly.

"Bree started this after she graduated from Hogwarts. Kateri was about four months old when the three of us moved to the flat in London. She used to spoil Kateri rotten. Well, actually she still does." Lexi gave the introduction before opening the book to reveal pictures of Kateri at the age of four months.

Cedric was stunned by how beautiful she was. She had cute chestnut ringlets on top of her head, and deep dimples in her cheeks. He saw the big gray eyes staring up at him out of the picture, and that brought a smile to his face, seeing himself in her.

"She's beautiful." he muttered.

"She looks like you." Lexi whispered back.

Cedric cuddled Lexi into his side as they flipped through the pages. As the tiny girl in the pictures grew older, he could see what Lexi was talking about; she did look like him. Except for the smile. He could never mistake that smile - it was Lexi's. He saw Kateri smiling up from her crib, playing with her stuffed animals, getting her hair brushed, taking her first steps, twirling around in Lexi's arms, tackling Bree on the floor, reading a book with Nick, napping on the couch with another young girl, who Lexi told him was her sister Ruby. So many pictures filled the book, and he told himself to thank Bree the next time he saw her.

"Who's that?" Cedric pointed to what looked like a recent picture of Kateri, Lexi, and a man he didn't know. He had a suspicion it was…

"Umm, that's John."

"You all look happy together."

"Oh, shut it, Cedric. Enough with the jealousy."

"I'm not jealous!"

"Right."

"I'm not." Cedric pouted before silence fell for a moment. "Did you love him?"

"Cedric!"

"What? It's a simple question."

"No. I thought I might, but I couldn't."

"Kateri seems to really like him."

"She's very fond of John, but you were her only daddy. You don't have to worry about any confusion with her."

"I want to meet her."

Lexi gave him a soft smile. "She wants to see you too."

"I'm nervous. Can you tell me about her first?"

Lexi nodded and slouched against the head board of his bed, preparing herself for another long story. Cedric laid his head on his pillow, snuggling into her waist.

"She's always reminded me of you," Lexi told him as she started to run her fingers through his hair, "she has such a big heart, and so much gumption. A Diggory to the core. You should have seen Amos after she was born. He was so protective, and he would brag about her to everyone, whether they listened or not. The first time she showed signs of having magic, Amos went berserk. The party he threw for her was bigger than all her birthday parties combined."

"That sounds like my dad. Good to know he hasn't changed much." Cedric smirked. "What did she do?"

"She made her bottle levitate."

"Really? Levitation?" he looked pleasantly surprised.

"Yep."

"That's what I did too, when I was a baby. Except it was my toy broom."

Lexi snorted in laughter. "Of course it was."

"Does she like quidditch?"

"She hasn't shown a vast amount of interest." Lexi admitted. "She only talks about it when you're brought up, but she's never shown any inclination to fly."

Cedric frowned, then shrugged. "I'll teacher her anyway."

"I don't know about that." Lexi warned. "Kateri has a mind of her own. She won't do anything she doesn't want to do. Like she has this purple night gown that she has to wear every night. She down right refuses to wear anything else, and I have to bribe her with brownies just to be able to wash it."

"That sounds like you." Cedric commented, giving her a wry smile. "I don't think I can wait any longer. I really want to meet her, Lex."

"Okay." she nodded, unable to stop the huge grin that came to her cheeks.

Lexi took hold of his hand and pulled him off the bed with her. The hallway between Cedric's room and the stairs seemed to stretch for miles and miles. Lexi felt the pulse in his wrist beating against her own as they descended the stairs.

But right at the bottom of the staircase, before they could turn into the living room, Lexi stopped and leaned her head in so she could whisper. "One more thing. Don't call her Kitty-Kat. She hates it."

Cedric chuckled. "Got it."

"Catherine? Amos? Kateri?" Lexi called into the living room before entering. The three of them looked up at the pair as they entered, holding each others hands tightly. Kateri was sitting on the floor, looking up at her father warily.

"Cedric?" Lexi turned back to him. "I'd like you to meet Kateri."

When Cedric's smile broke, so did Kateri's. But neither of them moved; it was like they were both too stunned by the others presence. Lexi rolled her eyes and bent down next to Kateri in order to pick her up. The little girl seemed to get the hint because she didn't fight being lifted up into her mother's arms and being brought over to where Cedric was standing.

"Umm… Hello, Kateri." Cedric said awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other. Kateri giggled shyly in response.

"Do you want to hold her?" Lexi asked.

Cedric reached out and took her from Lexi, and without hesitation Kateri looped her arms around his neck and Cedric held her tight against him.

"I love you, Daddy." Kateri whispered.

"I love you too, baby." Nothing else in the world mattered more than the tiny girl in his arms. Cedric wanted nothing more than to hold her, teach her how to fly, watch her grow, protect her, send howlers to all the boys who would inevitably vie for her affection at Hogwarts. He had never felt so complete in his life than while he held his daughter and smiled down at Lexi.

"Why don't the three of you go home." Catherine suggested. "I'm sure Kateri would like one night's sleep in her own bed for a change."

Lexi raised her eyebrows at Cedric to get his approval, and he nodded. Ten minutes later, Lexi was unlocking the door to their London flat for the first time in a week.

"Home, sweet home." she introduced to Cedric, who was looking bemusedly around the space.

"Home. Yes." Cedric smiled, bringing his two favorite girls into a hug.

When Lexi saw Kateri give an involuntary yawn into Cedric's shoulder, she hurried the little girl off to bed.

"Can I sleep with you and Daddy tonight?" she begged.

"No, sweetheart. Daddy and I need to talk. It's grown up stuff. Very boring."

Kateri scrunched her nose and didn't argue anymore before running off to her room. Lexi then led Cedric to their room, and watched as he took in her space, especially the picture of himself sitting in it's usual position on the nightstand.

"That will have to be replaced," he commented, wagging a finger at the picture, "with one of all three of us. I don't think I could fall asleep each night with myself staring at me."

"I don't care." Lexi shrugged, taking off her clothes to get ready for bed. Left unsaid was that she didn't care because she had the real person sleeping right next to her now. The picture meant little to nothing with that fact.

Cedric didn't allow her to get dressed into her nighty, taking her around the waist and pulling her onto the bed with him.

"I'm ready for that grown up stuff." he muttered before giving her a kiss.

"You always are." she giggled, not trying to stop him. "But we really do need to talk."

"Shoot." he told her, not stopping his kisses along her jaw.

"Are you okay with all of this? I mean, I kind of pushed everything on you at once. A daughter, a house, a lot of responsibility. We can take it slow if you want. You don't have to move in with me."

"Lexi," he breathed, "I want it. We can do anything, you and I."

"We should probably get married soon, so all of the legal stuff will be taken care of, and -"

"Lexi, shut up." he bit her bottom lip to force her into that option. "Let me do it the right way."

"What right way?"

"I love you. More than anything. Will you marry me?" he asked.

Unable to stop herself, Lexi drew him closer for a prolonged kiss. "Of course I'll marry you."

"Once again, I don't have a ring to offer you."

She held up her finger, where the band of canary yellow material was still wrapped around her finger. "This is all I want."

"Good. Can we get to that grown up stuff now? Please?"

Laughing, truly and completely happy for the first time in almost four years, she conceded without hesitation.

* * *

A/N: YAY!! All that is left is an epilogue!!! I'm sorry that the ending was rushed - I'm not gonna lie, this story has somewhat burned me out. lol. I hope ya'll enjoyed it!


	24. Epilogue

5 YEARS LATER

"Lexi!" Cedric's voice echoed through the walls of their flat.

Lexi narrowed her eyes in annoyance. He had been shouting for her for near five minutes. All she needed to do was find one more pin to stick in her hair, and she would be ready to go. Her hand found a pin, and she quickly finished her work before studying her reflection in the mirror. The hair had definitely taken the longest, having been put into a ridiculously complicated up-do, only made more complicated by the fact that she was using specially made hair pins that had glossy flowers on the ends, which meant her pin count was limited. The red flowered pins matched her crimson dress that flowed down her body elegantly.

She heard a shuffle beside her, and turned her head to find Cedric standing in their bedroom doorway, grinning at her.

"Isn't it wrong to be more beautiful than the bride on her wedding day?" he asked her, holding out his hand so that he could lead her away from the mirror and to the door. They were already late.

"I really don't think I'm any competition for Patricia."

"I beg to differ." he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

She had to admire her handsome husband now. Cedric was dressed in his best tux, accompanied by a red vest and tie to match her dress. Patricia had named Lexi a bridesmaid, but it was still surprising how John had picked Cedric to be a groomsman. The two of them had become quite good friends over the years, which probably had something to do with Cedric not knowing that he had once decked the other man. Men were so strange, she mused.

"Where's Kateri?"

"Waiting by the door." his answer was confirmed when they turned into the living room and saw Kateri waiting patiently on the couch, dressed in a red dress as well. The now eight year old girl was to be one of the flower girls. The other flower girl was Bree and Nick's daughter, Lauren.

"And Atti?"

"Atti!" Cedric called out his son's name.

"Hold on!" the four year old boy whined from his room. "I'm almost done!"

Atticus Diggory, named after his great grandpa Diggory, was the product of a very eventful honeymoon. Cedric and Lexi had gotten married only a couple months after they moved in together. Before his birth, they had decided to magically expand their London flat in order to house their growing family instead of buying a house in Ottery St. Catchpole, much to Amos' dismay. It had to be expanded again two years later at the birth of their third child, Therese Diggory.

"And where's Tess?" Lexi questioned, not seeing her youngest child in the scene.

Cedric smirked at her. "I put her down for a quick nap because you and our son were taking so long."

Lexi rolled her eyes and made her way back down the hall to the nursery. Tess was sleeping soundly when she entered, but as Lexi got closer, the baby's eyes batted open to reveal gray blue orbs. Out of all three children, only Atti had inherited her own swamp green eyes, a fact she rather liked - if she had it her way, though, all three would have Cedric's eyes. Cedric disagreed. Tess giggled sweetly as she was lifted out of her bed.

On her way back down the hall, Lexi ran into Atti, who had just emerged from his room. He was outfitted much like Cedric - after all, he was the ring bearer - except his tie was slightly askew.

"Atti, go ask Daddy to fix your tie for you."

"No! I can do it myself." he argued, his hands going to his tie, trying in vain to fix it properly.

"Can we go yet!" Kateri's patience was clearly short lived.

"Cedric." Lexi drew his attention to the stubborn boy behind her, and Cedric knelt down to finish the tie tying.

"Finally." Kateri muttered as the five of them finally walked out the door.

The wedding took place in Patricia's home town of Launceston in Cornwall. The ceremony was outside, and was simply lovely with all the flowery decorations. John's eyes sparkled with happiness when Patricia walked down the aisle, something that made the little amount of guilt Lexi felt towards him vanish. She had never fully been able to forgive herself for what she did to John, and how selfish she was in keeping him to herself for so long when her best friend needed him so much more. But they were both happy now, and that was what mattered.

After the ceremony, the guests headed over to the picnic area that was set up for the reception. Unfortunately, since the wedding party had to take pictures, most of the food was gone by the time they got in line.

"We should probably save some for Tricia and John." Lexi suggested, as the newly weds were still taking pictures.

"Are there any brooms around here, Dad? I want to fly." Kateri asked after they were seated around a large picnic blanket, picking at their food. She had, indeed, picked up flying once her dad was around to teach her. Cedric was beyond delighted. Atticus, however, had not. Cedric was hell bent on changing his opinion, and Lexi had to constantly remind him that he sounded like Amos, which sobered him instantly.

"Kat, you will not ruin your dress." Lexi told her, as she fed Tess some baby carrots. "I think you can go without flying for one day."

"Alright." Kateri grumbled back. "Let's go play, Lauren."

The two girls hopped up, abandoning their plates, to go find something more entertaining. Atti followed quickly, after stuffing the remainder of his food unceremoniously into his mouth. He loved to follow his big sister around, except when she flew.

"Don't go near the pond!" Lexi called after them. Atticus had a penchant for water, and Lexi didn't want to have to fish him out of the deep pond when he decided to act on that love.

"You know they didn't hear you." Cedric chuckled.

"I can't believe how fast they've grown." George Weasley said, watching after the retreating kids. "It was only yesterday that little Kitty-Kat was first learning how to walk."

Apparently George's voice had carried because Kateri shot a death glare at her Uncle George for using the nickname she detested. Angelina, who was sitting next to him, swatted George's chest for Kateri, a new engagement ring shining on her finger. It had taken a long time for them to convince George to ask Angelina to be more than a friend, and it had taken even longer to convince him to propose to her. But he did, at last, and he looked so happy, as he deserved.

"I can't believe it. I'm married!" Patricia squealed as she and John approached the group, leading to John swooping down on her to give her a kiss.

"Hey. Keep it G rated." Cedric chastised, motioning to the baby sitting in Lexi's lap.

"Whatever." John dismissed. "She has you two for parents."

He had a point. Cedric and Lexi didn't hesitate in any situation to show each other their affection.

The group went straight into their comfortable chatter. All the couples, Cedric and Lexi, Bree and Nick, Patricia and John, settling into each other. Lexi looked around at them all. Bree was beaming, more like glowing, because she was secretly pregnant. She had told Lexi only a couple days before, and had decided to keep it a secret as not to steal Patricia's moment in the spotlight. Nick was sitting next to her finishing off the food in both their plates. John and Patricia only had eyes for each other. He was taking her to New Zealand for their honeymoon, a fact Patricia didn't know yet. Angelina was rolling her eyes playfully at her fiancé because George had apparently just come up with a new joke idea and was feeding her all the juicy details. Cedric, with one arm securely around her waist, as per usual, was playing idly with her fingers as he talked to Bree.

Beyond them Lexi could see her parents chatting with Patricia' mother. Her brothers, Jake and Russell, recent Hogwarts graduates were currently playing a game of tag with Kateri and Lauren. Ruby, her sister, was not present as she was off enjoying her first year at Hogwarts. Amos and Catherine Diggory were sitting together at another picnic blanket with John's family. Amos had a huge grin on his face, and was making wide hand movements, probably telling them a story that bragged about one of his grandchildren. Further on, Lexi could make out a tiny hunched figure sitting by the pond, twirling a chubby finger in the water.

She rolled her eyes and handed Tess over to Cedric. Atti looked up at his mother innocently when she approached him; he knew she couldn't stay mad at him when he gave her that look.

"Sorry." he giggled as she picked him up and situated his four year old body on her hip.

A shuffle of grass alerted her that they were no longer alone. Cedric came strolling over with Tess in his arms, immediately winding his empty arm around Lexi's waist. Neither had gotten over the four year separation they had been forced to endure, and neither of them could stand the feeling for even a short span of time now.

"Hey, Dad! Watch this!" Kateri's voice echoed from what sounded like above them. Sure enough, Kateri swooped down on a broom she had found and started doing some of the tricks Cedric was teaching her… over the water. Lexi's heart stopped beating momentarily, grasping onto Cedric tighter. When Kateri flew back over land, Lexi released the breath she was holding.

She heard Cedric laugh at her under his breath.

"The craziness will never end, will it?" she glanced up at him.

"Nope, probably not."

THE END

* * *

A/N: IT'S OVER!! YAY!! Tell me what ya'll think of the whole thing!

Coming up next is a dip into the Twilight universe with a story about Kate and Garrett. After that I will be returning to this storyline again with Cho :)

I love all of you who have stuck with me since the beginning of Arithmically Inclined, especially Dazzling Janeene (who really needs to finish her own Cedric story!), and I love everyone who is new to this story. I would still like to hear from ya'll!


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